Trusting the Prophet

What are the odds that two speakers in General Conference would give back-to-back talks on the same topic? Toward the beginning of the Sunday Morning Session of the October 2014 General Conference, Elder Russell M. Nelson and Sister Carol F. McConkie spoke about prophets and the importance of sustaining them. Come to think of it, President Eyring's talk about modern-day revelation, which preceded the talks of Elder Nelson and Sister McConkie, probably had a good deal to say about prophets, too. I got so caught up in the concept of continual, personal revelation that I didn't notice what President Eyring said about prophets. I should read that talk again, and compare the other two talks side-by-side, to see what their combined message was and what insights we can gain by looking at those two or three talks together.

But this morning, I want to get my blogging done quickly so I can help my family with housework and yardwork, so I'll just share some thoughts from my notes.

Elder Nelson's talk was about Sustaining the Prophets. In my notes, I wrote down that to sustain the prophets means, at least in part, to trust and obey them. In her talk, Live According to the Words of the Prophets, Sister McConkie shared the story of a widow who lived in Zarephath (apparently, we don't know her name). She was very poor. She and her son were starving, and she was about to prepare what would be her and her son's final meal. But then the prophet Elijah came to her, and, acting on inspiration, asked her to give him the food instead, promising that if she did, the food would last. It was a tough decision, as you might imagine, but the widow acted on faith and gave the prophet what might have been their final meal. Then, miraculously, there was more food, enough to keep the widow and her son alive not only for their next meal, but also the next few meals after that, just as Elijah had promised.

In my notes, I made the comment: "God asks things of us. When we yield to Him, He blesses us proportionate to the sacrifice He asks of us." I'm not sure how accurate that is. Usually, we find that the blessings of God far outweigh the sacrifices He asks of us. The widow gave up one meal, and was rewarded with several. She gave up something that would keep her and her son alive for a few more days, and was rewarded with something that would keep alive until her life was no longer in jeopardy. I bet there were plenty of spiritual blessings, too.

God, sometimes through His prophets, often asks hard things of us. When we have the faith to follow His (and His prophet's) counsel, blessings follow. May we have the faith to trust and obey the prophets, so we may reap the blessings promised to those that do.