(א) וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל אַבְרָם לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וגו' (בראשית יב, א),. . . אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק מָשָׁל לְאֶחָד שֶׁהָיָה עוֹבֵר מִמָּקוֹם לְמָקוֹם, וְרָאָה בִּירָה אַחַת דּוֹלֶקֶת, אָמַר תֹּאמַר שֶׁהַבִּירָה הַזּוֹ בְּלֹא מַנְהִיג, הֵצִיץ עָלָיו בַּעַל הַבִּירָה, אָמַר לוֹ אֲנִי הוּא בַּעַל הַבִּירָה. כָּךְ לְפִי שֶׁהָיָה אָבִינוּ אַבְרָהָם אוֹמֵר תֹּאמַר שֶׁהָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה בְּלֹא מַנְהִיג, הֵצִיץ עָלָיו הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְאָמַר לוֹ אֲנִי הוּא בַּעַל הָעוֹלָם. (תהלים מה, יב): כָּך וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל אַבְרָם לֶךְ לְךָ . . .
(1) YHVH said to Abram, "Go you forth from your land…" … Rabbi Yitzchak said: this may be compared to a man who was traveling from place to place when he saw a castle aflame/aglow/burning/full of light. He said, "Is it possible that this castle lacks a person to look after it?" The owner of the building looked out and said, “I am the owner of the castle.” Similarly, because Abraham our father said, “Is it possible that this castle has no master, no one to look after it?," the Holy Blessed One looked out and said to him, “I am the Master of the Universe.” … Hence, God said to Avraham, Lech Lecha.
Therefore Abraham our father asked: "Is it possible that this castle lacks a person to look after it?" The light that Abraham saw was the light of illumination (doleket). He saw the sun which illuminated the day, the moon and stars that illuminated the night. He said: "Is it possible that this wondrous palace lacks an owner?" At that moment, God appeared to him and said: I am the master of this house."
David Luria
When Abraham saw that the wicked were setting the world on fire, he began to doubt in his heart: perhaps there is no one who looks after this world. Immediately, God appeared to him and said, ‘I am the owner of the world.'" . . . . Abram's question does not arise from contemplation or wonder. It is more like an exclamation of horror: "Is this really what the world is like?!" As soon as he asks that question, God appears to him and says—perhaps reassuringly, perhaps just matter-of-factly-"I am the owner of the world."
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (God In Search of Man, 367)
There are those who sense the ultimate questions in moments of wonder, in moments of joy; there are those who sense the ultimate question in moments of horror, in moments of despair. It is both the grandeur and the misery of living that makes man sensitive to the ultimate question . . . The world is in flames, consumed by evil. Is it possible that there is no one who cares?
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (The Letter of the Scroll, 58)
What haunts us about the midrash is not just Abraham's question but God's reply. he gives an answer that no is answer. He says in effect, "I am here," without explaining the flames. He does not attempt to put out the fire. It is as if, instead, He were calling for help. God made the building. Man set the fire, and only man can put out the flames. Abraham asks God, "Where are you? God asks man, "Why did you abandon me?" So begins a dialogue between earth and heaven that has no counterpart in any other faith, and which has not ceased for four thousand years. In these questions, which only the other can answer, God and man find one another. Perhaps only together they can extinguish the flames.