WHO NAMES YOU?
Greetings church family!
This week we continue our year-long journey through the book of Daniel.
Daniel 1:3-7 - “The king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family and from the nobility— young men without any physical defect, good-looking, suitable for instruction in all wisdom, knowledgeable, perceptive, and capable of serving in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the Chaldean language and literature. The king assigned them daily provisions from the royal food and from the wine that he drank. They were to be trained for three years, and at the end of that time they were to attend the king. Among them, from the Judahites, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The chief eunuch gave them names; he gave the name Belteshazzar to Daniel, Shadrach to Hananiah, Meshach to Mishael, and Abednego to Azariah.”
I read an article this week about a woman who, when she was a little girl, was placed into a witness protection program, along with her family. The father of the family committed a crime along with some accomplices. Her father testified in court to the deeds of the accomplices. He was eventually sent to prison, and the family, because of his testimony, had to go in hiding. The daughter, now a woman, shared that she and the rest of the family had to move away from their hometown. In addition, every member of the immediate family had to take on new names and new identities.
King Nebuchadnezzar didn’t run a witness protection program, but he did run an exile re-education program. Scripture states that Nebuchadnezzar’s aim was to re-educate the young men he had removed from Jerusalem, immerse them in a new culture, educate them in foreign wisdom, and feed them from the king’s table. In addition, the young men would receive new names.
We see this with the four Jewish men mentioned in the passage above. Daniel (meaning “God is my judge”) became Belteshazzar. Hananiah (meaning “Yahweh is gracious”) became Shadrach. Mishael (meaning “Who is like God?”) became Meshach. Azariah (meaning “Yahweh has helped”) became Abednego. Each new name was an attempt to replace a confession of faith with allegiance to false gods. Names in Scripture are never trivial—they carry meaning, destiny, and worship. Babylon’s aim was not simply to give these young men new labels, but to silence the testimony embedded in their original names.
But here’s what gives me goosebumps! The rest of Daniel 1 continues to refer to these men using their Hebrew names. It’s as if the writer of the book is saying that identity rooted in God cannot be erased by external forces. Culture may assign new titles, expectations, and values, but only God truly names the person.
Daniel 1:3–7 challenges us to ask ourselves today: Who gets to name us? Be careful. The world may rename faithfulness as eccentric, humility as weakness, holiness as irrelevance, and compassion as foolishness. If we aren’t intentional about our faith, we just may begin to answer to those names.
Instead, my prayer this week is that in seasons when you feel renamed by adverse situations—reduced to a role, labeled by failure, or defined by culture—remember this: exile does not cancel calling. The world may attempt to rename you, but heaven still calls you by the name God gave you. Hold fast to that identity, and you will discover that even in strange circumstances, God is still empowering faithful witnesses for His glory.
Have a blessed week church family!
Pastor Chris
