Absalom was having trouble getting Joab’s attention.  To remedy the problem, he set Joab’s field on fire.  Often when we lose material possessions or what is important to us gets destroyed, suddenly God gets our attention.  Sometimes it takes a fire to get us to slow down and realize what we need to do.  Joab went to all the trouble of trying to get Absalom back from exile.  He had a woman trained to tell the king a story.  He invested time in making this happen.  However, once he get Absalom back, he decides to not complete the process and restore fellowship between King David and his son.

Often we go part way with God in trying to get things right.  We call back our son from exile, but we don’t get right with him.  Often we make decisions at the altar that we only partially follow through on. Sometimes God has to start our fields on fire to get us back on task and so we can complete the mission the Lord has for us.  God just needs to get our attention when we get too caught up in this world.  We get distracted and don’t respond to Absalom’s gentle nudgings and prodings. Instead we need to have our field started on fire to act.  It is always best to respond to the gentle nudging of the Holy Ghost.  If not, God knows how to get our attention.