I am the Lord, the God of Israel,
who summons you by name.
—Isaiah 45:3
Miso Vogel was tattooed with number 65,316 at Auschwitz—signaling that 65,315 prisoners had preceded him in being branded. Six-year-old Rene Guttmann was number 169,061. Before it was over, more than 400,000 prisoners at Auschwitz had numbers inked on their arms.
Being identified as a number rather than a name is dehumanizing.
Even animals have an identity when given a name. Some of my classmates’ farmer fathers wouldn’t let them name animals that were going to be butchered. It wasn’t easy to eat a ham they had known as Orville or a chicken they had called Fluffy.
With God, you’re not a number—you have a name, and he knows what it is. Jesus said that he calls his sheep by name, and they listen for his voice (Jn 10:3).
God knows your name.
That means you matter to him.