Harriet Tubman's Whispered Prayers in the Dark

On a moonless night in September 1849, Harriet Tubman stepped off the edge of everything she knew. She left the Eastern Shore of Maryland with no map, no compass, and no guarantee she would survive the journey north. What she carried was a stubborn, unwavering trust that the Almighty would show her the way.

Over the next decade, Tubman made thirteen trips back into slave territory, guiding roughly seventy people to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Those who traveled with her recalled that she would stop mid-journey, fall silent, and pray. She was not performing for an audience. She was listening. "I never ran my train off the track," she later said, "and I never lost a passenger." She attributed every safe passage not to her own cleverness but to the Lord who taught her which paths to walk.

Tubman knew what it meant to lift her soul to God when every earthly instinct screamed to turn back. She understood the covenant faithfulness the psalmist describes — that the Most High leads the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

Psalm 25 is not a prayer for those who have it all figured out. It is for those standing in the dark, asking God to be their guide. It is the prayer Harriet Tubman whispered through the woods — and the same one available to every soul brave enough to trust.