What's in a name?

I started reading a book this morning, a book that begins with the story of four teenage boys who were captured and carried off as prisoners of war, taken to a foreign country to spend the rest of their lives there as slaves.  I can already tell that this book will have a lot to say about how to remain faithful to God, even under extreme threats and circumstances. It's also a book that tells of God's faithfulness to protect, defend and give insights to his people. Perhaps you've already read it; it's the Old Testament book of Daniel.

It was a time of war and everything changed overnight for these young boys. In one blow, they lost everything that was familiar to them: their homes and families, their own nation and customs, and even their names... because the King of Babylonia gave new names to these teenagers who were beginning a time of training to be royal servants.

To make things even worse for these Jewish boys, their new names were names that implied allegiance to foreign deities - to the gods of Babylonia.

Daniel was renamed Belteshazzar, which means, "May Bel protect the king." Bel was the chief god, the national deity of Babylonia.
Mishael's name was changed to Meshach, which means, "Who is like Aku." Aku was the Babylonians' god of the moon.
Hananiah was renamed Shadrach, probably meaning, "Command of Aku" or "at Aku's command."
And Azariah was called Abednego, which might mean, "slave of the god Nebo." (Nebo was the Babylonian god of wisdom.) Or it might mean "slave of the god Nergal." (Nergal was an ancient god of death and the underworld.)

What a traumatic experience for these four young teenagers - not only to lose their whole life as they'd always known it, but also to be given new identities that linked them to foreign gods.

But their true identities remained as a reminder of who God was and could still be to them.

Daniel means, God is my Judge, and even from those youthful years, we see this man living a life of integrity, with the awareness that God's eye was always upon him.
Hananiah means, God is gracious - not only something he experienced in his own life, but also a firm reminder that he was not at the command of the god Aku; he was safely in the hands of Yahweh.
Mishael means, Who is like God/Yahweh - a reminder that his true identify was to be like the Creator God of the universe and not like the heathen god of the moon.

Azariah, like the name Ezra, means God has helped, and already in the first few chapters of the book of Daniel we see this teenage boy and his friends experiencing God's help and deliverance in various ways, even in  a terrifying crisis situation.

And so the experience of these four young teens is a reminder of a fundamental truth: our identity is not shaped by the names the world calls us. They may call us weak or foolish or worthless; they may tell us we're a failure, that we're insignificant or that our life doesn't count for anything...

But that's not our true identity in God's eyes: He tells us that we're loved and valuable to Him, that we have unlimited potential, that we can make a difference in our world as we draw on His wisdom, help and strength.

So, what's in a name?  A lot! The amazing stories of Daniel and his friends were determined not by who people said they were, but by who they knew themselves to be. They weren't simply servants of the King of Babylonia; they were children of the King of the Universe.