The parsha starts off (18:1) "And Hashem appeared to him in Elonei Mamrei..." Rashi says that since Mamrei was the one who gave him the advice to get the brit milah he got mentioned here. The Gra says something interesting. Avraham's mission in life was to spread Torah throughout the world. He was trying to get everyone to follow the mitzvot bnei Noach. He thought that the only way to get people to follow him was for them to relate to him. He was afraid that if he got the brit milah people would not be as willing to listen to him anymore because he would stand out. So he asked his friends Mamrei, Eshkol, and Aner for advice. One told him he was to old to give himself a brit. one told him that if he did it the people would not be able to relate to him anymore, and Mamrei told him that if Hashem told him to do it that it would all work out in the end.
From this Gra we learn that even if we put in effort in the end result is all from Hashem. The gemara in Megillah has a machloket as to whether Esther was one of the most beautiful women ever or if she was actually green. The Gra explains that she started off as the most beautiful woman but as she spent time in the house waiting to meet with Achashvairosh she got so sick from all of the Gashmiut until the point where she actually turned green. So then the question is why would Achashvairosh want to marry a green woman? So the Gemara answers that an angel would come and pass a string of Chesed in front of her and everyone would think she was beautiful. This teaches us that as long as you follow the will of Hashem everything will always work out.
In the sefer Madreigas Ha'Adam the Alter of Nevardik quotes a story of the Alshich Ha'Kadosh. The Alshich gave a shiur and said that if a person where to truly believe that Hashem will support him then he will not need to work. At that shiur there was a very poor wagon pusher. He thought to himself that his job is not worth the effort if he will get the money anyways, so he quite. The next morning he woke up and began to say tehillim. Soon his family noticed he was not working and asked him how he will make money. He said that the Alshich told him that Hashem will get him the money he needs. After a few days of no work the man decides to sell his donkey and wagon to a non-Jew. The non-Jew takes the donkey and wagon and goes and digs a hole. In the hole he finds a buried treasure. Quickly, he gathers the treasure and puts it into the wagon. He decides that he will go back for more and as he is digging the make the hole bigger a big rock comes down and kills him. After a few minute the donkey walks away and finds his way back to his old owners house. Once it gets there this poor man's family find the wagon filled with treasure and they all live happily ever after (except the non-Jew...). We see from this story that as long as you follow Hashem's will everything will work out.
The Mesilat Yesharim says that not only is working not a mitzvah, it is a punishment. The only reason why we need to work is because of the curse that Hashem gave to Adam. The Beis Haleivi says that the whole point of Histadlut is so that people should not be nervous. If you are afraid that Hashem will not be able to support you so He gives you the opportunity work but it is not a mitzvah.
So we learn from the pasuk that once Avraham heard Mamrei say that he should listen to Hashem Avraham realized that in the end all of his success comes from Hashem so he should not be worried that the people of the world will not be able to relate to him. This is why Mamrei was zoche to be mentioned here. This is also the same line of thought that Avraham used when it came to shechting his son. Even though it was against all of the morals he had been trying to teach people for all these years (to stop them from sacrificing their children to Avodah Zara). Now Avraham was going to do the thing he had been trying to stop from all those years. The reason why is was so hard for him to do it. But since he learned this yesod from before he realized that as long as he does Hashem's will it will all work out for the best!
Have a great Shabbat!
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