2 Samuel 2:15-19: in context

In the strife between the house of Saul and the house of David, a fierce battle is fought at Gibeon. Among David's men are the three sons of Zeruiah, one of whom, Asahel, is as swift of foot as a wild gazelle. When the fighting turns, Asahel fixes on Abner, the commander of Saul's forces, and pursues him relentlessly, not turning to the right hand or to the left. Though Abner warns him off, Asahel will not stop; and the relentless pursuit ends in Asahel's own death at Abner's hand.

Asahel's fate is a study in the danger of a relentless, headstrong pursuit that will not turn aside. He was swift and determined, and he fixed on Abner and chased him single-mindedly, refusing to turn to the right or left, ignoring the warnings to give up the chase. His determination, admirable in some ways, became his undoing; he would not turn aside, would not heed the warning, would not let go, and it cost him his life. There is a warning here about a kind of relentless single-mindedness that ignores wisdom and cannot let go. We can become so fixed on a pursuit, a goal, a grievance, a course we have set ourselves, that we refuse to turn aside from it even when warnings mount, even when wisdom says to stop, even when the pursuit is leading us toward harm. Like Asahel, we chase without turning right or left, deaf to the warnings, unable to let go, driving straight toward a ruin we could have avoided by turning aside. The prudent, the proverb says, sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple press on, and suffer for it. There is a determination that is virtue, but there is also a headstrong refusal to turn aside that is folly, especially when warnings are given and wisdom counsels stopping. Sometimes the wise thing is to turn aside, to let go of the pursuit, to heed the warning, to give up the chase that is leading toward harm. Asahel would not turn aside from following Abner, though he was warned, and it killed him. And the lesson is to hold our pursuits with enough wisdom to turn aside when we should, to heed the warnings that come, to let go of a chase that is leading us toward ruin, rather than driving relentlessly on, deaf to wisdom, unable to stop. The refusal to turn aside is not always courage; sometimes it is the folly that drives us to a harm we could have escaped.

Am I fixed on a pursuit, a goal, or a grievance so single-mindedly that I refuse to turn aside from it even when warnings mount and wisdom counsels stopping, like Asahel chasing Abner without turning right or left, and can I hold my pursuits with enough wisdom to heed the warnings and turn aside from a chase that is leading me toward harm?