Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the King, but he would not come to him.  And when he sent again the second time, he would not come.  So he said to his servants, "See Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire."  And Absalom's servants set the field on fire.  ... So Joab went to the King.......

 (2 Samuel 14:29, 30, 33a) 

Do you often put off doing something that you should do because you are tired, or busy , or depressed?  You may say to yourself, I will do it tomorrow.  But when tomorrow arrives, you put off doing it even further.  Then something terrible happens that gets your attention and you realize that you should have taken action when you first had it to do.  Hopefully whatever damage that you sustained was minimal and you start doing something about it right away.

In the passage above, Absalom was upset with his father, King David, in sending for him but not meeting with him.  Joab had been the person who was supposed to set up the meeting.  Absalom got tired of waiting on Joab to do what he was originally supposed to do, and decided to set his barley field on fire.  He knew that would get Joab's attention.  Sure enough, after learning of the fire, Joab immediately went to the king and arranged the meeting.

When is our barley field on fire?   Well, sickness can be a barley field on fire!  Loss of a loved one can be a barley field on fire!  Family trials can be a barley field on fire!  Money problems can be a barley field on fire!  Depression can be a barley field on fire!  Any situation that causes you great difficulty can be a barley field on fire. And in many cases, the fire could have been averted if we had taken action before the fire started.

Of course there can be positive consequences from the fire. Fires in our lives can bring us closer to God.  In many cases, the fire causes us to pray more.  We begin to study God's Word more as we seek answers to put out the fire.  And of course if the fire is hot enough, we will learn to avoid  situations in the future that led to our fiery trials.

So what do we do when our barley field is on fire?  We do what Joab did.  WE GO TO THE KING!  Joab went to King David.  But we go to KING JESUS!  In fact, we should learn how to go to the Lord before the fire starts, it may just keep US from being burned!