Harriet Tubman returned to the public eye in recent years when the U.S. government announced its plans to place her image on the $20 bill. With this momentous change, I find it timely that we reflect on Tubman’s legacy with two major lessons that Christians can learn from her life of listening to God.
Tubman’s Early Life
When Tubman was five years old, she was enslaved as a nanny. Every time the baby cried, Tubman was whipped. Though she wore layers to soften the blows, these whips left permanent scars on her young body.
At 12, Tubman stepped in the way to prevent an overseer from throwing a two-pound metal weight at a slave boy. “The weight broke my skull,” she later explained. “They carried me to the house all bleeding and fainting. I had no bed, no place to lie down on at all, and they laid me on the seat of the loom, and I stayed there all day and the next.” Though her broken skull healed, Tubman suffered severe headaches and narcolepsy throughout her life.
However, in 1840, Tubman’s life was set to monumentally change—her owner died, freeing her and her brothers in his will. Tragically, her new owner refused to recognize their freedom. Instead, she and her siblings would be sold Deep South, where abuse was fiercer and freedom inconceivable. She felt God urging her to escape.
“God’s time is always near,” she said. “He set the North Star in the heavens; He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free. I would fight for my liberty so long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.” She prayed, “I’m going to hold steady on to you [Lord], and I know you will see me through.”
Though her brothers eventually turned back, Harriet traveled ninety miles to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
The Conductor Who Never Lost a Passenger
When she finally reached Pennsylvania, she remarked, “I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. I felt like I was in Heaven. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me…my home after all was down in the old cabin quarter, with…my brothers and sisters…I was free, and they should be free also; I would make a home for them in the North, and the Lord helping me, I would bring them all there. Lying all alone on the cold damp ground, ‘Oh, dear Lord,’ I said. ‘I haven’t got no friend but you. Come to my help, Lord, for I’m in trouble!’”
And God did, indeed, come to her help. Tubman made 13-19 return trips to the South. She estimated that she personally led at least 70 slaves to freedom and instructed another 70 along the trail, though her biographer, Sarah Bradford, claimed Harriet personally delivered at least 300 fellow slaves. Despite the lofty reward advertised for her head, Harriet was never caught, and she never lost a “passenger.”
After her service as the Railroad’s “conductor,” Harriet became the first African American woman to serve in the military (a Civil War scout, spy, guerilla soldier, and nurse). She later advocated for women’s rights as a leading suffragette.
Yet for all her phenomenal work, Tubman chalked everything up to one source—the Lord and His leading voice. From this incredible woman, at least two observations seem evident: 1) God yearns to speak to us and 2) God desires to bring freedom and healing to others through us.
Observation 1: God Yearns to Speak to Us
In describing Tubman, fellow abolitionist Thomas Garrett remarked, “I never met any person of any color who had more confidence in the voice of God.” Being a conductor was a perilous invitation to death—Tubman and her passengers were likely pursued by search dogs, trained slave catchers, and officials.
When people expressed amazement at her courage, Tubman always exclaimed, “Don’t, I tell you, Missus. It wasn’t me. It was the Lord. I always told Him, ‘I trust you. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me,’ and He always did.”
Though Tubman was illiterate, she listened carefully to God’s voice, only fleeing where God led. In describing His voice, Tubman reflected, “Sometime it sting like a smack in the face. Other time it soft like a dream, fly off soon as you woke.” And while many might consider Tubman’s ability to hear God unique, Tubman implied otherwise: “Seem like I learn to see and hear God like some learn to read a book. I put all my attention on it, act without a question, fore I can wonder if ever heard it all, fore I can understand what it mean.”
In Joel 2:28-32, God promised, “I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions…and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
God yearns to speak to us too—are we listening and willing to obey? He may speak through Scripture, a friend’s accountability, a pastor’s comfort, a dream or vision, a song—but it may also be through that still, small voice speaking to us in our own thoughts, revelations, and convictions.
In many of the moments I believe God was speaking to me, His words came in the form of my own thoughts, albeit with more wisdom and authority than my own. Sometimes, these thoughts make us uncomfortable, and we doubt they are from Him. We certainly ought to check that they align with Scripture and may want to run it by a trusted friend or ask God for confirmation. But are we willing to take these risks and step toward what we believe He is saying? And do we recognize that God does not intend for us to accomplish anything alone—will we let Him lead the way?
Bradford wrote, “Sudden deliverance never seemed to strike [Harriet] as at all mysterious. Her prayer was the prayer of faith and she expected an answer.” Like Harriet, as we take that first step, we find Him walking with us. In fact, he is already one step in front of us, leading us to the next. We can pray—God, I believe you are speaking to me. I am going to trust you and obey, and if this is not of you, please stop me! His grace is a safety net that catches us when we are confused and never wastes a minute or resource, redeeming mistakes into beautiful opportunities for His glory to shine.
But He does want us to act when we have an inkling He has spoken. Trust and obedience are His love languages, and He wants to love the world through us—and when He does, we experience firsthand the beauty and freedom of God’s love and every good part of His character.
Observation 2: God Desires to Bring Freedom and Healing Through Us
Racial injustice is still pervasive around us today. Years of redlining have financially ravished communities comprised mostly of Black and Brown families, leaving minority children on the bottom rung of educational opportunities and career advancement. If you are a Black American, statistics reveal that your house will be appraised at a significantly lower price, you are 50% less likely to be called for an interview (by your name alone), and you are 20% more likely to be stopped by police and 1.5-2 times as likely to be searched (though less likely to be carrying contraband). After a host of federal policies aimed at targeting Black drug users, as opposed to White drug users, Black people make up 38% of U.S. prisons while comprising only 12% of the population in general.
Throughout history, God’s followers spearheaded racial justice movements: God’s promise to Abraham to “bless all nations;” Jesus’ call to His followers to take the Great Commission to the “ends of the earth;” Peter’s vision in Acts 10; Paul’s speech of neither “Jew nor Gentile” in Galatians 3:28; Corrie ten Boom; William Wilberforce; Angelina Grimke; Frederick Douglas;, Sojourner Truth; and Martin Luther King Jr. For centuries, God opened His followers’ eyes to racial injustices in their backyards and commanded them to use their voices and resources and His Holy Spirit to advocate for the oppressed.
And racial injustice was not the only theme God stood against in the Bible. In Isaiah 58, God explained that Israel’s demise was due to their treatment of the poor and marginalized in addition to idolatry. In verses 7-8, He declares, “Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke? Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly.”
In Matthew 25, Jesus gives encouragement and a warning to show us what obedience looks like practically. When Jesus returns, He describes how He will part the sheep from the goats, thanking His sheep because they gave Him food for His hunger, drink for His thirst, shelter as a stranger, clothes in His nakedness, care in His sickness, and a comforting presence in His imprisonment. Jesus’s followers ask, “‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you for one of the least of these, you did for me.’”
To those who ignored the vulnerable needs in their communities, Jesus issues eternal judgment. From this passage, we must consider how we treat those who the world considers “the least of these” in our society. Do we treat them as we would Jesus if we encountered Him homeless at the grocery store, naked under a bridge, hungry and thirsty, sick, or in prison?
A message like this can be frightening—we all fall short, and I disappoint myself often. However, God’s grace reminds me that more opportunities will come. And even more encouragingly, all He requires to transform us is genuine repentance. In Romans 7:19, Paul laments for not doing the good he longs to and instead practicing the evil he hates. Despite this, God loves and has saved him from condemnation through Jesus Christ.
And perhaps grieving our failure to do good is not such a bad thing—true repentance is “a broken spirit and remorseful heart” (Psalm 51:17). When we offer this to God, He is quick to forgive and, in time, to heal and sanctify the parts of us which need change. After all, He is the ultimate heart surgeon who came with the very purpose of healing the sick. He does not require a charitable do-gooder or charismatic orator—on the contrary, the Biblical history emphasizes how He delights to use “the weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27). I believe this can include the faltering person who desires to do good, yet so rarely accomplishes it on his/her own (Romans 7:19). Today, our powers to vote, spread awareness, write, and post far exceed the resources and rights Harriet had at her disposal. Most importantly, we serve and pray to the same God she waited on.
In that case, the only question which remains is—are we willing to be used? If not, are we willing to be made willing? If we are, we can start by praying the simple prayer that George Muller, Corrie ten Boom, and Harriet Tubman did—God, use me. Or change my heart to be more like yours. And then to act in obedience when He calls us to take that first step.
So, Father, open our eyes to those who are especially vulnerable and hurting around us. To the everyday needs of the poor, homeless, immigrant, elderly, unborn, disabled. Those who have been turned away by the church. The LGBTQIA+. Show them the love and healing you yearn to bring. Give us a spirit of obedience so we are quick to trust you. I want to start loving people today.
Resources/Citations:
- When will Harriet Tubman adorn the $20 bill?
- Encountering_Jesus_at_the_Well on Vimeo
- Harriet Tubman | Christian History
- Harriet Tubman: Facts, Underground Railroad & Legacy – HISTORY
- Harriet Tubman Biography
- About Harriet Tubman
- Harriet Tubman, a Woman of Faith and Courage – Breakpoint
- Study Suggests Bias Against ‘Black’ Names On Resumes
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States
- BOP Statistics: Inmate Race
- Research Shows Black Drivers More Likely to Be Stopped by Police