Harriet Tubman: Behind Her Courage Was a Deep Trust in God

When people remember Harriet Tubman, they often picture a woman leading others toward freedom. They remember the dangerous journeys, the determination and the lives she helped change.

But someone who knew her closely remembered something underneath all of that.

What one friend noticed

Thomas Garrett was an abolitionist who helped fund and supply her rescue missions. He knew what she actually did, and how she decided to do it. This is what he said about her.

“I never met with any person of any color who had more confidence in the voice of God, as spoken direct to her soul.”

That testimony brings us closer to the woman behind the extraordinary history.

The National Park Service, setting out what made her courage possible, lists her close family, her community’s connections and the skills her father taught her. Then it adds that most of all, she had a lifelong, fierce and unwavering faith in God.

Harriet had a deep conviction that she could turn to God, seek his guidance and act on what she believed was right, even when the circumstances gave her every reason to be afraid.

Her faith had somewhere to go. It entered her decisions.

The story she grew up on

She was born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in Dorchester County, around 1822. She grew up in a world where people claimed the right to own her and determine her future.

Her mother taught her Bible stories, and the account of the Exodus became a source of inspiration. She drew strength from the story of a people delivered from bondage, and she rejected the teaching, pressed on enslaved people by those who profited from it, that their duty was to obey their masters.

Consider what that meant for a woman living under slavery.

The world around her declared that she belonged to someone else. The biblical story offered a radically different understanding of who God was and how he regarded the oppressed.

She could recognise herself among people whose cries mattered to him.

“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.”

Exodus 3:7

In a letter written around 1859, she put her own conviction like this.

“God’s time is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens; He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free.”

There is remarkable strength in that.

She believed her life had a meaning beyond the conditions imposed upon it. God’s regard for her reached deeper than the power other people held over her. And she took the star that guided her north as something he had put there.

The attempt that turned back

Her path to freedom included an interrupted beginning.

In 1849, hearing that she and her brothers Ben and Henry were to be sold, Harriet set out with them. They turned back when her brothers had second thoughts, one of them likely a brand new father. A short time later she left again, alone, and made her way through Maryland and Delaware into Pennsylvania.

The first attempt was not the end of the story.

We know the courage that followed. We should also remember that there was a return, a reconsideration and another departure.

For someone who has tried before and stopped, this detail matters.

An interrupted beginning does not settle what you are capable of doing next. You can gather information, find support, reconsider your approach and begin again. You can bring the same weary heart back to God without pretending that the previous disappointment did not hurt.

Faith can have a second beginning.

Faith that made plans

Once Harriet reached freedom, she remained concerned for the people she had left behind. Over about thirteen separate journeys she led roughly seventy people out, many of them family and friends, and she gave instructions to fifty or sixty more who made their own way. Her work depended on trusted contacts, practical knowledge of the ground, and a network of people willing to help.

Her trust in God lived alongside careful action.

She used what she knew. She accepted assistance. She worked with others.

That is an encouraging example for anyone who wonders whether asking for help reveals a lack of faith. A trusted person’s advice, a skill learned patiently or a community’s support can become part of the way forward.

You can pray for guidance and make the appointment.

You can ask God for courage and prepare for the conversation.

You can place your future in his hands while taking responsibility for the next thing within your reach.

A church in Auburn

Harriet’s Christian faith also had a lasting home in worship and service.

In Auburn, New York, she belonged to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion congregation. She helped fund the building of a new church for a growing congregation, and she worshipped there after it was finished in 1891. It took the name Thompson Memorial that same year. She was part of its work among the poor and the needy.

This part of her life deserves attention.

The same woman remembered for exceptional bravery also belonged to a congregation. Her faith found expression in giving, worshipping and helping people establish their lives in freedom.

Courage was sustained within a life of devotion and responsibility.

For us too, faith needs somewhere to live beyond a moment of inspiration. It can take root in prayer, Scripture, trustworthy fellowship and the daily practice of caring for others. These are places to return to when our confidence weakens.

When she died in 1913, her funeral was held in that same church.

If fear is louder than hope

Perhaps you have reached a point where fear speaks more loudly than hope.

You still believe in God, but you hesitate to begin. Disappointment has taught you to expect another closed door. You have become careful about wanting anything too much.

Harriet’s story cannot promise you a particular outcome. It can, however, challenge the belief that difficult circumstances have already decided everything.

She trusted God while taking demanding, practical steps toward freedom, her own and other people’s.

Her experience invites a question.

What would trusting God look like in your next decision?

It may mean seeking help you have been reluctant to request. Returning to work you believe matters. Learning what you need to learn. Making a careful plan instead of abandoning an idea before you have explored it.

The step should be wise. It can be small.

You do not have to feel extraordinary to take it.

What her courage reached

We remember Harriet because her courage reached so many people. Her faith helps us understand how she continued to give herself to that work.

The danger was real. So was her trust.

For those of us reading her story today, there is an invitation to bring our fears honestly before God and ask for the strength to act with wisdom.

You may have begun this day discouraged. There is still time to do one thing that gives hope a little room.

Let someone help you. Return to your prayer. Take the next good step.

You cannot yet see everything that may grow from it.

A prayer

Lord, help me trust you with the part of my life where fear has made me hesitate.

You know what disappointed me. You know why beginning again feels difficult.

Give me wisdom to recognise the next good step and courage to take it. Help me prepare, listen and receive support. Keep me from confusing one setback with the end of every possibility.

Deepen my faith until it reaches the decisions I make.

And as you strengthen me, help me encourage someone who is still afraid to begin.

Amen.

Sources: the National Park Service on Harriet Tubman and on the Underground Railroad and Thompson Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and PBS, God in America.