“Is God punishing me?” cried Eva as she searched for the big truck. She and Ray had arrived at the trucking terminal in California the day before they were to unload their truck. There were driver facilities there: restrooms, showers, kitchenette, parking for their truck and many other drivers to visit with and share stories of the road.
Eva enjoyed several hours of companionship with other driver team wives and friends. When she went out to get something from her truck, the truck was gone! She looked all over the parking area to see if Ray had just moved the truck to a better location, but no, the truck was nowhere in sight. Had he left? Would he do such a thing to Eva? Leave her and just disappear without telling her? Her purse and all her clothes were in the truck. She had her cell phone and nothing else. She tried to call Ray, but he was not answering his phone.
Eva became shocked, and then hurt. Soon she was angry. How could he treat her like that? She said that sometimes he got very jealous when she spent time with other people and he felt ignored. Could he have been offended when she had spent time with the others all afternoon?
It was becoming cool, and she had nothing to put on for warmth. No jacket, no sweater, nothing! And for the night: no comb, no toothbrush, not even a bed to sleep in! How could a person do that to someone he supposedly loved?
It was sad watching Eva, so hurt and upset. She sat in the break room and cried for a long time. One lent her a coat, as it was getting colder, then a blanket to wrap around her. Finally, a driver gave her money for a motel room, and another driver took her to a motel. She appreciated the kindness of the drivers but was very upset and wondered if Ray would eventually come back for her or would leave her there to figure out what to do and how to get home without her driver’s license or money.
Eva felt unloved and so very hurt. Do you sometimes feel that life is unfair and that God is punishing you in some way? Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, there has been heartache and sadness in the world. And there is always that little feeling that something is wrong, that we have not been all that we should have been, that God is not well pleased with us. That little sense of wrong is called “conscience,” and it may be that God is allowing things that hurt to remind us that we need someone stronger and wiser than ourselves. We need God! We need Him in our lives. He does love us and sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for your sins and mine so that we can be free of sin and clean to go into His presence someday.
Ray did come back the next morning after unloading the big truck. He had indeed been jealous of her. Sometimes our loved ones let us down and hurt us, sometimes even intentionally, but God sees and wants to be our solace and comfort. He says, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:55Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5)).