Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.
- Exodus 7:16
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
“For the first twenty-five years of her life, Harriet Tubman was a slave in Maryland and spent much of her time behind oxen, loading and unloading wood and carrying heavy loads, which gave her the endurance of an athlete. She was whipped in childhood, and as a young person she was injured when her owner threw a metal weight at her. Soon afterward, she began praying for God to convert him.
“I groaned and prayed for old master: ‘Oh Lord, convert master! Oh Lord, change that man’s heart.’ Appears I prayed all the time, about my work, everywhere, I prayed and I groaned to the Lord. When I went to the horse trough to wash my face, I took up the water in my hand and I said, ‘Oh Lord, wash me, make me clean.’ Then I take tip something to wipe my face, and I said, ‘Oh Lord, wipe away all my sin. ‘I prayed for master till the first of March; and all the time he was bringing people to look at me and trying to sell me. Then we heard that some of us was going to be sold to go with the chain-gang down to the cotton and rice fields, and they said I was going, and my brothers and sisters. Then I changed my prayer. First of March, I began to pray, ‘Oh Lord, if You ain’t never going to change that man’s heart, kill him, Lord, and take him out of the way.’ Next thing I heard, old master wad dead.”
- Robert J. Morgan, 100 Bible Verses That Made America
In my recent trip to visit the grandchildren, the oldest of them went with me to Nashville, to sell used books and games. One of the books that I purchased in return was 100 Bible Verses That Made America by Robert J. Morgan. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the birth of the USA, I thought I would do a condensed mini-series on some of these verses, four posts per week for a few weeks – maybe not all 100 verses.
In September of 1849, Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) found her opportunity. She escaped into Pennsylvania to freedom.
But let’s dissect her prayer. She was a woman of prayer. From her telling her story, and that is all we have is our telling of our story until we stand before God in judgment, she prayed over the simplest of things.
As 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, she seemed to pray continuously.
And the overall nature of her prayer other than for the water to wash her physically and then spiritually, washing her sins away, she prayed for her master to become saved.
But then, when her master was arranging for her to be sold, he changed her prayer. To her, it seemed the master was beyond redemption. She made an imprecatory prayer and the man died.
I have heard many people who refuse to make such prayers, but could we wordsmith Harriet Tubman’s prayer a little bit? “Lord, bring master to a saving knowledge of you, but if that is a waste of time because he will never repent, does he have any use to you in this world any longer?”
Okay, the hardliners against imprecatory prayer would still balk at that. Harriet Tubman was forgetting the verses on either side, rejoicing always and giving thanks regardless of the circumstances. But Harriet Tubman had probably prayed over her master for more than a decade. When is enough enough?
When we pray for lost loved ones, we speak of praying until the last breath. When that person breathes their last, their fate is sealed.
But Harriet Tubman was fueled by this prayer. God heard her plea. He gave her a decisive answer. And when asked later in life how she always seemed to know where to go and how to reach those trying to escape to freedom, she said that she had no clue, but God knew, and He guided her.
Let’s leave a bit of Mercy in all our prayers. We rely on God’s Mercy ourselves, but we should all pray that God overthrows tyranny. We should pray that evil is removed from this world.
And someday, that will happen.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
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