Handling the holidays

Preparing for the recent Evangelistic series “What’s the Connection” I worked through the Book of Daniel, and one particular subject served as an excellent object lesson for the final topic “Handling the holidays” – Daniel 6. The story where king is coached to introduce a 30-day long holiday. Daniel just retires to his room and ignores the holiday altogether, simply because he’s got his God-given holidays already. Instead of following the secular trend he prays to God the way he always did.

As the season of many holidays is approaching the pressure is on us to follow the rest of the crowd – eat, shop, stay late, and then pay the price of getting sick, dealing with credit debts, being tired and stressed from holidays. Of course, the holiday season evokes warm thoughts of family gatherings, special times with friends, holiday baking, snuggling by the fire, snowball battles, and more. You know the drill. But, the stressors are many. How will you handle your holidays?

It is interesting to observe that the ancient people of God, the nation of Israel had their holidays as object lessons, having a prophetic significance, pointing out to God’s way of Salvation and the final rest in the Promised land: from Passover to Sukkot. The purpose for holidays was not to get an extra cholesterol, but to remind God’s plan of salvation. In fact they fasted before feasting, repented and humbled themselves before celebrating. There was a deep meaning in their calendar holidays, and in their weekly cycle.

Researchers are puzzled with “Circaseptan Cycles” - a relatively new science of chronobiology uncovering some totally unexpected facts about living things. I quote from Susan Perry and Jim Dawson report in their book The Secrets Our Body Clock Reveal. Mind you these are not Christian scientists, rather secular evolutionists write: "Weekly rhythms are one of the most puzzling and fascinating findings of chronobiology. Circaseptan literally means "about seven." Daily and seasonal cycles appear to be connected to the moon. But what is there in nature that would have caused weekly rhythms to evolve? At first glance, it might seem that weekly rhythms developed in response to the seven-day week imposed by human culture thousands of years ago. However, this theory doesn't hold once you realize that plants, insects, and animals other than humans also have weekly cycles. . . . Biology, therefore, not culture, is probably at the source of our seven-day week."

To a Biblical believing Christian this is not a puzzle – God has created the whole living world in six days and rested on the seventh. Another scientists, the world's foremost authority and the pioneer of the science of chronobiology Franz Halberg proposes that “body rhythms of about seven days, far from being passively driven by the social cycle of the calendar week, are innate, autonomous, and perhaps the reason why the calendar week arose in the first place." What a bombshell! God tuned everything living so that it needs the Holy Day every seven days. We call it Sabbath.

So, as you face the holidays, remember that the best way to handle it is – live your normal live on God’s schedule – work six days and on the seventh come to celebrate the promise of the ultimate holiday – the real REST in the new heaven and earth.