Hospital Beds, Prayer, and the Long Wait: A South African Christian's Guide to Visiting the Sick

If you have spent any time in a South African hospital — yours or someone else's — you already know it is its own country. The waiting at casualty at Chris Hani Baragwanath. The plastic chair in the corridor at Charlotte Maxeke. The smell of the tea trolley at Netcare Sandton. The auntie who has brought a Tupperware of pap and wors for the patient. The cousin sleeping in the car because the visiting hours are short. The same cousin who has not yet told the rest of the family how bad it is.

The South African hospital is not the same as the hospital in the brochure. The South African hospital has its own language, its own rhythms, its own kindnesses, and its own particular kinds of suffering.

This post is for the Christian who wants to be useful inside the South African hospital — visiting the sick, praying with the sick, helping the family that is carrying the weight.

What the Bible Actually Says About Visiting the Sick

Matthew 25:36 — I was sick and you looked after me. James 5:14-15 — Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. Mark 1:30-31 — Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her. Acts 9:36-43 — Peter raised Tabitha. Luke 10:30-35 — The Good Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.

What you notice is that visiting the sick is not presented in the Bible as a nice thing for the extra-committed Christian. It is presented as something close to the centre of what it means to follow Jesus. In Matthew 25, the visit to the sick is one of the things the King will mention at the last judgment.

Why Visiting the Sick in South Africa Is Harder (and More Important) Than in Most Places

1. The Distance Between Hospitals

The specialist hospitals are clustered in Parktown, Sandton, Houghton. The patients often live an hour or more away. The family that visits has to choose between spending R200 on petrol and spending it on the chronic medication.

2. The Public Ward Reality

Many South Africans are admitted to public wards — six beds to a room, curtains that do not quite close, two visiting hours a day. The visitors are feeding, washing, advocating with the nurse, fetching the medication. The visit is a small piece of a much larger care operation the family is running from the plastic chair.

3. The Visitor's Own Fear

Many people do not visit because they are afraid. The fear is real. 2 Timothy 1:7 — For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. The fear is the entry point. The visit is the move on the other side of the fear.

4. The Caregiver's Loneliness

The caregiver is often lonelier than the patient. The caregiver is the one who needs the call, the meal, the afternoon off, the prayer more than the patient does.

Six Bible-Based Practices for the South African Hospital Visit

Practice 1 — Call Before You Go

Ask which ward. Ask what time the doctor is likely to round. Ask whether the patient is up to visitors. Ask whether the family needs anything brought in. The call is the first visit.

Practice 2 — Bring Something the Patient Actually Wants

The Tupperware of food is more important than the flowers. The chronic medication from the pharmacy is more useful than the card. The phone charger is more useful than the magazine. Ask the family what the patient actually needs before you go.

Practice 3 — Sit, Do Not Just Visit

Sit on the plastic chair. Sit on the edge of the bed. Sit in the corridor if the patient is in isolation. Sit for the full visiting hour. The sitting is what the family remembers. The sitting is what the patient remembers.

Practice 4 — Pray Briefly, Specifically, Out Loud

The hospital visit is not the place for the long prayer. The hospital visit is the place for the short prayer, prayed out loud at the bedside, named after the specific thing the family has just told you about. Lord, we ask you for the blood test tomorrow. We ask you for the doctor who will be on rounds. We ask you for the pain to be manageable.

Practice 5 — Help With the Logistics

Drive the car around to the entrance. Take the laundry home to wash. Drop the chronic script at the pharmacy on the way back. Phone the cousin who could not come and give them the update.

Practice 6 — Keep Visiting When the News Gets Worse

The visit after the news has got worse is the most important visit of all. Job 2:13 — Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him. The sitting is the visit.

What to Pray at the Hospital Bed

For the patient — Lord Jesus, you are the Great Physician. You are the one who took Peter's mother-in-law by the hand and raised her up. We ask you to be present in this bed, in this ward, in this hospital. Give the doctors wisdom. Give the nurses patience. Give the patient rest. Do what only you can do.

For the family — God of the long corridor, we pray for the daughter who is at the bedside every day. We pray for the husband sleeping in the car. We pray for the mother who is also sick at home. Give them strength for the next hour. Give them strength for the next day. Give them the wisdom to know what to say and what to leave unsaid.

For the doctor — Lord, we ask you for the doctor on rounds today. We ask you for the specialist who is making the decision. Give them clarity. Give them humility to listen to the patient.

For the moment when the news is bad — Lord, we do not have the words. We ask you to pray in us the prayer we cannot pray (Romans 8:26). Be with the patient. Be with the family. Be with us. Carry us when we cannot carry ourselves.

A Prayer for the South African Hospital Visitor

God of the hospital bed — we pray for the ward we are driving to. We pray for the patient in the bed. We pray for the family in the plastic chairs. We pray for the nurse who has been on shift since yesterday. We pray for the doctor who is somewhere between this ward and the next. We confess that we are afraid. We confess that we do not know what to say. Give us the courage to drive there. Give us the wisdom to ask before we speak. Give us the grace to sit for the full hour. Give us the words for the short prayer at the bedside. Help us to bring the food the family needs. Help us to help with the logistics on the way out. Help us to keep visiting when the news gets worse. In the name of the one who took the mother-in-law by the hand, who raised the daughter of Jairus from the bed, who himself lay in the borrowed tomb. Amen.

Johannesburg Bible Study Church meets online every Wednesday at 7:30pm. The hospital corridor is one of the places the Bible has the most to say. Call +27 77 487 1295 or +27 67 442 4461 to join.