| Audience: Rodney Smith Memorial Service
Location: Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States of America Date: 12 December 2022 |
Good afternoon.
Introduce myself.
Don’t want to speak long.
My desire is my message will bring comfort, perspective, and hope.
There is something I think Rod and I have in common.
Since I was a teenager there is a phrase in scripture that has caught my attention. “The mysteries of God”. There are over 30 instances of using that or a similar phrase.
I’ve always wanted to further understand the way God works. I think in general though, if there is something to know, I kinda want to know it too. From my experiences with Rod, I think he was the same way.
Today, I want to talk about some of the “mysteries of God” that I believe Rod knew.
To do so, I want to talk about 3 definitions for what the “mysteries of God” refer to.
First, the mysteries of God can simply mean the workings of God. What he does and why. A key to this can be found in Isaiah 55:8, where the Lord says, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.”
This truth, that the Lord’s ways and man’s ways are not the same, is often felt especially at the passing of a loved one. Our own desires, and what makes sense to us, aren’t always what is best in God’s plan.
Second, the mysteries of God refers to things you can only learn through the Holy Spirit. Sincere prayers for further understanding are always answered eventually. Sincere prayers to know truth are always answered. In the scriptures, this truth is stated as “Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
The most important truth the Holy Spirit can teach us is that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Our testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can only come through the Holy Ghost, and this is certainly one of the “mysteries of God” revealed to Rod.
The third definition of the “mysteries of God” are the simple and beautiful truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that are not hidden at all, but you must open your hearts to know them. These truths are published, plainly taught in the scriptures, and freely shared. They are only mysteries to a world that chooses to ignore them, and who search for answers from other sources.
These are the mysteries that Rod knows, and the mysteries I want to elaborate on.
One simple example of a truth that has been obscured is the word “religion” itself. It is Latin. “re”, as many of you I’m sure are familiar, means “back” or again”. The base of the word, “ligio”, means “to link”. So, the original meaning of the word “religion” is “to link back to or again”. This prompts a few questions.
What are we linking back to?
And that implies the question, where did we come from?
And then, seeing we are between the places of where we came from and where we are going back to, then, why are we here?
Religion, that is true to its original definition answers those questions. Where did I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? And what do I need to do while I’m here?
These are all mysteries that Rod knows well.
Before we came to Earth, we lived with Heavenly Parents. We are their spiritual offspring. We lived with them as spirits since before the world we stand on now was created. Our Heavenly parents wanted us to become like them, and we grew in light and knowledge, but our growth there was limited. Having always lived in God’s presence we had never truly been tested, to see if we would make correct choices on our own. Also, we needed to experience a physical body. A temporary body we could learn with and make mistakes with.
The prophet Abraham saw the plan to create an Earth for us. He recorded,
22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;
23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.
24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
(Abraham 3:22-25)
The fact that we are all here means we followed this plan. When we came to this Earth, a veil of forgetfulness was placed on us. God is hidden from us, and our memories of anything before our existence on Earth is also hidden from us. This is an opportunity for us to do what is right and good all on our own.
Our Father in Heaven knew we would make mistakes though. We would make wrong choices. Also, our time on Earth is limited. We all eventually die and lose these bodies that our spirits now make their home.
The central part to God’s plan is Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ, the mistakes we make on Earth can be forgiven. And Jesus Christ overcame physical death, opening the door for all who have lived on Earth to be resurrected and live again. And also, the sacrifice Jesus Christ made, starting with his bleeding from every pore as he prayed for us in the Garden of Gethsemane, to his crucifixion on Golgotha, he suffered and felt all the pains of mankind. As Isaiah says, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” Through Christ, we can be comforted with perfect empathy. The lowest of lows we feel, Christ has felt.
This plan of our Father in Heaven, to send us to earth so we can continue to grow and learn, and to provide a Savior to save us from our eventual falls and provide a path to return back to God’s presence, is what we call the Plan of Salvation.
A passage of scripture that has been on my mind a lot is when Moses is on Mount Sinai and speaks to God face to face. God shows Moses a glimpse of all his creations, works without end. And he shows Moses this world, and all the people that would inhabit it.
After this experience, Moses fell to the earth, and didn’t recover his strength for many hours. This experience caused Moses to utter, “Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.”
I think it is easy at times like today, to realize the nothingness of man. I think in many ways that is a good realization. Our time on this Earth is so short, so temporary.
But this experience Moses had doesn’t end here. While facing this realization, and while still weak, Satan appears and says to Moses, “Moses, son of man, worship me.”
Moses’ reply is, “Who are thou? For behold, I am a son of God”!
I know Rod is a son of God! Right now, he has gone home to loving Heavenly Parents who rejoice in his return. Rod has fulfilled the purpose of his temporary stay on Earth.
I know through Jesus Christ, we will also all be resurrected again. We will be given back our bodies in their perfect form. We will be able to embrace, hug, kiss, and hold our loved ones again.
I know Rod knows all these beautiful and noble truths. I have been honored today to share what I know Rod knew so well.
I want to conclude with a poem that I know Pam and Rod are familiar with, that I also feel is appropriate. It is called “Gone From My Sight”.
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze,
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch her until she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to meet and mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: “There! She’s gone!”
Gone where? Gone from my sight—that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side,
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me and not in her.
And just at that moment
when someone at my side says: “There! She’s gone!”
there are other eyes that are watching for her coming;
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
“There she comes!”And that is—”dying.”
I leave these words with you….