Putting my Trust in the Prophets

I just watched and read Sister Carol F. McConkie's talk, Live According to the Words of the Prophets, and as I listened and read, I found myself having the same doubts I had four or five months ago, when I expressed concern about offering God a "behavioral blank check." I ultimately concluded that I could trust God at least as much as I could trust myself, so putting my faith in Him couldn't be any more foolish than putting faith in myself. I elected to trust God, but at the time, I didn't resolve to also trust His prophets.

Recently, I overheard my brother watching a youtube video that compiled quotes from and about Professor Snape, from the Harry Potter series. If I recall correctly, in one of the clips, Professor Lupin said that whether or not Harry trusted Snape came down to whether he, Harry, truly trusted Professor Dumbeldor. Lupin said that since he, Lupin, trusted Dumbeldor, and Dumbeldor trusted Snape, he, Lupin, had chosen trust Snape.

I trust God. At least, I trust Him more than I trust myself. Those who are better at interpreting the mind of God than I am have said that God speaks through His prophets. He trusts them to be His mouthpiece on the Earth. Since He trusts them and I trust Him, I should trust them, too.

I already do trust them, to a certain extent. I trust they're wise people. I trust that their counsel, even if it's not the very word of God, is pretty sound advice. I trust that it's wiser to follow them than it is to follow most other leaders, so I have no trouble agreeing to abide by their counsel. The part where I tend to get stuck is in trying to think of their words as being the actual voice of the Lord - to accept what they say as being true as if God Himself had said it. Yes, I trust God and He trusts them, but still, that's asking for an awful lot of trust! They're still only human. They're liable to make mistakes. Can we really etch their words on stone tablets, under the heading "Thus Saith the Lord," when it's possible that they, being human, might have mispoken?

I suppose God would correct us if we started to go astray. And erring on the side of following the prophets is better than thinking that the prophets made a mistake and choosing to do something else instead. Because I want to follow God and God wants me to follow the prophets, I guess that's the right way to go. Besides, I'm as likely to make mistakes as they are, so it's still at least as wise to follow their guidance as it is to follow my own. As gambles go, this one's pretty safe, even though the stakes are high.

So, according to my own logic, it makes sense to follow the prophets. And according to God's commandments, it's spiritually important to do so. I guess it's time for me to stop second-guessing them and sign the behavioral blank check.