Everyone considered him the coward of the county
He’d never stood one single time to prove the county wrong
His mama named him Tommy but folks just called him yellow
But something always told me they were reading Tommy wrong

Kenny Roger’s “Coward of the County” is one of my favorite country songs. The song tells the story of a young man named Tommy. When Tommy is 10 years old, his father “dies in prison.” Tommy and his uncle (portrayed by Rogers in the role of narrator) come to see him for the last time, and Tommy’s father makes him promise not to fight when provoked. This earns Tommy a reputation as the “Coward of the County” as he never stands up for himself.

Tommy is in love with a girl named Becky, who loves him despite his unwillingness to fight. One day, while Tommy is out working, the three “Gatlin boys” attack Becky. When Tommy returns home and finds Becky hurt, he is forced to choose between upholding his promise to his father or avenging the crime that is committed against the love of his life.

The story ends with Tommy going to the local bar where the Gatlin boys hang out. At first, it appears that Tommy will cower again after being laughed at by the Gatlin boys as he turns towards the door. However, he has done so in order to lock it, and there is deathly silence in the bar before “20 years of crawlin'” ends in an explosive fight that leaves all three Gatlin boys unconscious on the barroom floor. Tommy then addresses his dead father, saying that while he did his best to avoid trouble, he hopes he understands that “Sometimes you gotta fight when you’re a man.”

The Bible has its own version of the “Coward of the County.” His name is Gideon son of Joash. He spent most of his early life living in fear, but God transformed him into a mighty warrior and used him to deliver the Israelites from oppression.

1.) The Cycle of Sin Continues (6:1-6)

Gideon’s story begins like the other judges of Israel, with the nation spinning through another cycle of sin. Deborah led Israel through 40 years of peace, but when she died, they did evil in the eyes of the Lord again. So, God disciplined them by giving them into the hands of the Midianites for seven long and brutal years. The Midianites were so malicious that they forced the Israelites to abandon their homes and literally “run for the hills.” The Israelites lived in caves, mountain clefts, and anything they could find to provide shelter.

The Midianites were merciless when it came to raiding Israel’s crops too. Like a swarm of locusts, they descended upon Israel during harvest season and devoured everything in sight. They stole as much food as they could and destroyed the rest. They even killed the livestock and left the land completely desolate. God used these seven years of misery to humble his people.

When I was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania, Paul and Mary, a couple in their mid-seventies, lived in the brown and white trailer across the road from me. Mary was a sweetheart, but Paul was a miserable old curmudgeon who didn’t like anybody or anything, except his large and lush vegetable garden and his long blacktopped driveway. Every summer, he spent many hours manicuring his garden and maintaining his driveway. He had the only blacktopped driveway in our area, but he refused to let me or my friends ride our bicycles on it.

One August night when I was about 13 years old, six or seven of the neighborhood boys decided to camp out in a tent in the backyard. None of us were really interested in camping, but we liked being able to roam around the neighborhood in the middle of the night. That night, we snuck into Paul’s garden and picked every vegetable and smashed them on his beloved driveway. We whipped tomatoes and beans at each other. We threw the heads of lettuce and cabbage over our heads just to watch them shatter on the pavement. We destroyed everything except the watermelons. We took those back to camp to eat!

When I went home in the morning and surveyed the damage from the seclusion and safety of my front porch. Paul’s driveway looked like a giant tossed salad. I watched Paul dash from his front door to the edge of the driveway. (I had no idea a 75 year old man could run so fast!) He had a look of devastation on his face and I knew he was experiencing a mixture of emotions that swayed back and forth between extreme sadness and burning anger.

I’m not sure if God used us to humble Paul or not, but when I remember that look of devastation in his eyes, I can understand how the Israelites felt about the Midianites!

2.) An Incorrect Candidate (6:7-24)

After seven years of misery, the Israelites called upon God once again and he gave them Gideon, the coward of the county. What an unlikely candidate! Gideon didn’t have the correct character or credentials to serve as judge of Israel. The text reveals four reasons why Gideon was the wrong choice. First, verses 11-12 reveal that he had the wrong occupational background. He came from an agricultural background. Now there is nothing inherently wrong or cowardly about farming, but especially in this time and culture, we would expect someone with a military background to be the top man in Israel.

Secondly, Gideon had the wrong attitude. When the angel pronounced God’s calling upon Gideon, he told him that the Lord was with him. In verse 13, Gideon’s questions reveal his bad attitude toward God, “If the Lord is really with us, why has all of this happened? Sure, we have heard about his miracles in the past, but why isn’t he doing anything in the present?”

Many people today have this same attitude toward God! They blame him for the bad things that have happened to them without looking for his plan. It becomes all about them in the moment rather what God is doing in the big picture of their lives. Questions like these show a fundamental misunderstanding of God’s character. Like Gideon, questions like this show a fundamental self-centeredness in our own hearts. Do you ever find yourself having a bad attitude toward God?

Thirdly, Gideon came from the wrong family. As he points out to the angel in verse 15, he was from the weakest clan in Manasseh and he had the lowest status in his family. His family background made him an unlikely candidate to save Israel.

Fourthly, Gideon had the wrong faith, or at least a lack of faith. As this encounter with the Lord’s angel was coming to an end, in verse 17 he demands a miracle to prove that this angel really was from God. This lack of faith should have disqualified Gideon from serving as Israel’s judge, but the Lord honored his request by consuming the meal of lamb meat and unleavened bread with fire from the rock.

Like Gideon, God chooses unlikely people to serve him today. People with the wrong occupational background! People from the wrong family! Even people with bad attitudes and fickle faith! When God chooses you, it doesn’t matter if it makes logical sense or not! When God calls you to do something, there is never a reason or excuse that is good enough to deny it. Are you one of God’s unlikely choices? If God chose the coward of the county to save his people from oppression, there is no telling what God might choose you for!

3.) The Cost of Obedience (6:25-32)

After Gideon received his call from God, his first mission was to destroy his father’s idols that the people of his hometown worshipped. He was to tear down the altar that had been built for worshipping Baal, the Canaanite God of nature, and to cut down the Asherah poles that were erected to worship the Canaanite fertility goddess. He was also supposed to build a new altar to the Lord and sacrifice a bull with the wood from the Asherah pole.

Although Gideon expressed his cowardice again by doing it at night, he obeyed the Lord and accomplished the tasks that were appointed for him. When the people woke up the next morning, they were outraged when they saw that the idols had been destroyed. They immediately launched an investigation to find out who did this. When they discovered that it was Gideon, they demanded that he be executed. But Gideon’s father Joash interceded for his son by saying that Baal can take care of himself. Nonetheless, Gideon learned the cost of obedience to God!

This scene reminds us that when we obey God today, it comes at a cost. When we act in obedience to God and do what is right, it costs us something. Think about it! When we obey God by giving him 10% of our income, it cost us monetarily. When we make God our top priority in life, it may cost us a relationship with a family member or friend. When we refuse to cut corners at work, it may cost us our jobs.

Like Gideon, when we are obedient to God, it may even threaten our life? Would you be willing to give up your life to be obedient to God? I’m so glad that our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to obey his father even to the point of death!

4.) Fear in the Fleece (6:33-40)

Gideon’s second mission was even more difficult and terrifying that the first. He was to round up the troops from the northern tribes of Israel and battle against the allied forces of the Midianites, Amalekites, and eastern peoples who were camped in the Valley of Jezreel. But before he went to war, fear and cowardess crept into his soul again. He tried to get out of his mission by testing God twice.

The first time, Gideon says that he would place a dry fleece (a wool coat) on the ground and if there was only dew on the fleece and not on the ground in the morning, he would know that this really is what God wanted him to do. When he woke up, the fleece was soaked but the ground was dry. So, he tried to get out of it again by saying that he would set out the fleece again the next night and if it was dry and the ground was wet, then he would know for sure that God wanted him to lead the Israelites into battle. Sure enough, in the morning, the ground was wet but the fleece was dry, and Gideon knew what he must do. He should have known that it is impossible to pull the wool over God’s eyes!

I wonder how many of us have ever laid our fleece before the Lord! We may not have used a literal wool fleece, but I would bet that most of us have tried to manipulate God by making a deal with him. Have you ever showed a lack of faith by demanding a sign or a miracle? Have you punted God’s plan by saying, “Well, I need to pray about it?” We need to realize that God is not interested in making deals with us! He is interested in our faith, not our fleece!

5.) Faith Finally Overcomes Fear (7:1-25)

Well, once Gideon finally mustered up enough courage to obey God and lead 32,000 Israelites into battle, God taught him one more lesson about fear and faith. Although the Israelites were far outnumbered, God told him that he had too many men in his army to defeat the Midianites. So, Gideon reduced his army to 10,000 men, but God said that this is still too many troops. Gideon then reduced his army to 300 men, a ridiculously low number, and God told him that this was perfect. This was a real test of faith!

God sent this battalion into battle at night with only trumpets and torches in their hands. When the Midianites heard the trumpet blasts and saw the lit torches, they became hysterical with fear, turned their swords on each other, and ran away. Gideon’s faith finally overcame his fear and God used him to deliver the Israelites from the hand of the Midianites.

Gideon’s life helps us put our lives in perspective. Like him, we are always teetering on the edge between fear and faith. Every day we have to make a decision: Am I going to trust my instincts or am I going to trust God? Are my decisions going to be driven by fear or faith? Am I going to be the coward of the county or a courageous follower of Christ?