Go Forth: What Abraham's Journey Teaches About Your Identity and Calling (Lech Lecha)
The short answer: Abraham's story (Genesis 12–17, the Torah portion Lech Lecha, "Go forth") shows how God shapes an ordinary person for a divine purpose. At 75, Abram left everything familiar without knowing where he was going. Through famine, failure, war and waiting, God first offered to use him, then prepared him, then used him, and renamed him Abraham. Your identity is found the same way: in obeying God's call and returning quickly when you fall.
"Go forth"
"Now Yahweh said to Abram, 'Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation... All the families of the earth will be blessed in you'" (Genesis 12:1–3). Abram was 75 (12:4). He had no map and no destination, only a promise. Genesis doesn't tell us why God chose him, but his actions do: when God spoke, Abram listened; when God commanded, Abram went.
Following the chronology of Genesis 11–12, his father Terah likely lived many years after Abram left Haran. Leaving was costly and permanent. It sheds light on Yeshua's words to the man who wanted to "first go and bury my father": "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for God's Kingdom" (Luke 9:59–62).
Offered, prepared, used
At any given time, God is doing one of three things in your life: offering to use you, preparing you to be used, or using you. The question is not whether God will use you, but whether you will resist Him. Abram's preparation came through a series of trials:
Famine and fear: in Egypt he lied that Sarai was his sister, out of fear of man, and Pharaoh's house was struck with plagues (Genesis 12:10–20). Humbled, he returned to his altar at Bethel and called on the name of the Lord (13:3–4).
Generosity: when his herdsmen quarreled with Lot's, he let Lot choose first. Lot chose the well-watered plain near Sodom (13:8–13).
Courage: when Lot was taken captive by four kings, Abram led 318 trained men and rescued him (14:14–16), leaving the ninety-nine for the one. Afterward he refused the king of Sodom's spoils and received bread, wine and a blessing from Melchizedek, giving him a tenth (14:18–23).
Impatience: when the promised son delayed, Sarai urged Abram to have a child through Hagar, and Ishmael was born (16:1–16). The human shortcut brought lasting strife.
The righteous make progress two steps forward and one step back. What mattered was that Abram kept returning.
The covenant God walked alone
"He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). In the covenant ceremony, animals were split in two and both parties normally walked between the halves. But Abram was in a deep sleep, and only "a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces" (15:17). God ratified the covenant by Himself. As a saying often attributed to Jonathan Edwards puts it, you contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.
God is either offering to use you, preparing you for His use, or using you.
A new name, a new identity
After twenty-five years of waiting, God announced that Sarah would bear a son within a year (Genesis 17:19–21). Abram became Abraham, "father of a multitude," and Sarai became Sarah (17:5, 15). Abraham was circumcised with every male in his household, the sign of the covenant (17:23–27). From the son of promise came the family tree that would produce the Messiah Himself.
Abraham is honored as the father of faith (Romans 4; Hebrews 11:8–10), not because he never failed, but because he obeyed and returned in repentance. We have an advantage he didn't: Yeshua, who said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day" (John 8:56), and through whose death and resurrection we have direct access to the Father. Whether you are 25 or 75, God is not finished with you. Go forth. For more on Abraham's encounter with the priest-king, see our teaching on Melchizedek.
Frequently asked questions
How old was Abraham when God called him?
Seventy-five when he left Haran (Genesis 12:4).
What does Lech Lecha mean?
"Go forth" or "go for yourself," the opening words of God's call in Genesis 12:1 and the name of the Torah portion Genesis 12–17.
Why did God change Abram's name?
To mark his new identity in the covenant: Abraham means "father of a multitude" (Genesis 17:5).
Why did only God pass through the covenant pieces?
Because God bound Himself to the promise alone, a picture of salvation by grace (Genesis 15:17–18).
Take the next step
If this stirred something in you, do not walk it out alone. Join our free online Bible study community on WhatsApp. We meet weekly to study the Word, ask hard questions, and grow together — Prophetic Bible Study on Wednesdays, Standard Bible Study on Mondays, and Women's Bible Study every other Tuesday.
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