When Isolation and Stillness Bring Availability

Revelation 1:9-11a, ESV

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches…” 

John went from working as an apostle and integral leader in the early church to being shipped off to a mostly deserted island—inhabited only by criminals and guards—to live alone for the rest of his days on earth. 

But just because it seemed like his purpose and influence were over as he knew it, doesn’t mean that God was done with him. 

John’s isolation and stillness were the setup for his next assignment—receiving and writing the vision which would become the book of Revelation. 

Seasons of change sometimes bring isolation and stillness for a time, but when God allows those things in our lives, we need to lean into them rather than pushing against them.

When John didn’t know what to do next, he leaned into the stillness and sat with Jesus—he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. When he no longer had people to talk to, he was still able to talk to Jesus. 

And therefore, John’s season of isolation and stillness did not make him unusable, it made him available.