Fathered by God

For three years, a famine had devastated the kingdom of Israel. The duration and severity finally caught King David's attention prompting him to ask the Lord about its cause. The Lord informed David that the famine came because Saul, his predecessor, had killed some of the Gibeonites in violation of a covenant. After David made restitution to the Gibeonites the famine ended. If David had been attentive earlier, could he have saved the people, and himself, one or two years of hardship? Are there hardships in my life that could be corrected with the same attention?