Bittul to Hashem's word over one's own reasoning

בפסוק וילך אברם כאשר דבר אליו ה'.

On the pasuk: "And Avram went, as Hashem had spoken to him."

The Sefas Emes opens on the wording of Avraham's departure - that he went specifically "as Hashem had spoken," and asks what this precise phrasing comes to teach.

כי מקודם ג"כ הלך לארץ כנען כמ"ש בפסוק ובזוה"ק.

For he had already gone toward the land of Canaan before this, as is stated in the pasuk and in the holy Zohar.

Avraham had set out for Canaan even earlier (see Bereishis 11:31), so his journey was not new; what changed was the reason for which he traveled.

ומ"מ כאשר נאמר לו לך לך הלך רק כאשר דיבר ועזב כל הטעמים שלו היפוך מכל אדם אם היו מסכימים לו משמים הי' מתגאה לומר שיפה השכיל.

Nevertheless, when he was told "Lech lecha (Go for yourself)," he went solely because of what Hashem had spoken, abandoning all of his own reasons - the opposite of every other person, who, had Heaven agreed with him, would have become proud, saying that he had understood well.

Avraham's greatness was bittul: he set aside his own logic entirely and acted purely on the ratzon Hashem. An ordinary person, finding that Heaven endorses his own thinking, would take pride in his own cleverness; Avraham took no credit at all, going only because Hashem had said so.

ודו"ק:

And understand this well.

The Sefas Emes invites the reader to contemplate the depth of Avraham's bittul - going purely on Hashem's word without any trace of self-regard.

Summary: Avraham had already been traveling toward Canaan, yet the Torah stresses that this time he went "as Hashem had spoken" - teaching the avodah of complete bittul, acting on the ratzon Hashem alone and surrendering one's own reasons rather than taking pride in one's own understanding.