When Job Prayer For His Friends

Because of a jaw problem, I had to get a MRI. If you have ever had one of these torturous procedures done, you know how claustrophobic one can get in this confined space. But what made my experience even more intolerable was the fact that they needed to stabilize my head. The technicians placed my head in a box that was just a bit bigger than my head and filled my mouth with tongue depressors to widen my mouth to get a better image of my jaw. Then they did the unthinkable. They closed the little door on the top of the box which was only an inch from my nose. They made the mistake of asking me if I was okay and had to open the little door three times before I was able to have my whole body pushed into the narrow cylinder. Shortly after, the fun began! The machine made a terrible noise that sounded like a loud dentist drill and of all things, the technicians left the room and watched me from outside the room. Fear that these people had forgotten all about me, began to fill my mind and I was sure that I was going to yank my head off trying to get out of this contraption. My palms were sweaty and my heart was pounding out of my chest. I would have screamed for help if it had not been for the tongue depressors in my mouth. I knew I had to calm myself if I was not to decapitate myself. I prayed, "God help me!" I begged, "Lord please get me out of this mess!" but nothing seemed to help. Finally, it came to me to "pray for others". So I did, I prayed for all of my family, friends and even the mailman. I prayed for the president and his family as well as the entire church staff, their children and even their pets. Still the grinding went on but I was in another place now. I was thinking about others rather than myself. I prayed on! Finally it was over and I was relieved and certainly all prayed up.


The scripture I read this morning made me think of this harrowing experience.
"When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes. In fact, the LORD gave him twice as much as before!"


Sometimes my prayer life is all about me. I groan and complain about what's going on in my life and forget that there is a world out there that is in need of prayer. Lord, help me not have to wait until my head is in a box to remember others.