The Revelation to Store Food

In a general conference in 1973, President Benson made this statement: “The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah” (see here).  Seven years later in a 1980 general conference, he quoted Orson Hyde’s statement that “there is more salvation and security in wheat than in all the political schemes of the world,” and then President Benson repeated his own assertion: “The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah” (see here).  Seven years after that in 1987, again in general conference, President Benson repeated, “The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah” (see here).  Obviously President Benson felt strongly about this if he repeated this statement as he did, and to suggest that food storage may literally save our lives—like the ark saved the lives of Noah’s family—gives me cause reflect at how seriously I’ve acted upon the invitation to be prepared. 

                There are two stories in the scriptures that I know of in which the people were literally saved by their food storage.  The first of course is the story of Joseph in Egypt who convinced Pharoah to store food during the good years: “Let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.  And that food shall be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine” (Genesis 41:35-36).  That food saved the lives of Joseph’s family and surely many others during the great famine.  The other story is that of the Nephites under Lachoneus as they joined together and fought the Gadianton Robbers.  They “reserved for themselves provisions, and horses and cattle, and flocks of every kind, that they might subsist for the space of seven years” (3 Nephi 4:4).  That preparation is what allowed them to defeat the robbers who could not subsist in the wilderness for long periods of time.  I’m not sure what the significance of the “seven years” is in these stories, but they certainly do highlight the need to heed prophetic counsel about preparing physically for the future. 

                Historically the Church has counseled members to get a one to two year supply of food and water, but in more recent years with great international growth it seems that the teaching has focused less on a specific amount that we should have and more on being prepared in general.  Here is what the Church publication “All Is Safely Gathered In” from 2007 states: “We encourage Church members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings.  We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings.  Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once.  With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve.  We realize that some of you may not have financial resources or space for such storage.  Some of you may be prohibited by law from storing large amounts of food.  We encourage you to store as much as circumstances allow.”  As I have thought about possible future scenarios in which food storage might be needed to survive, I’ve come to the conclusion that if a major catastrophe occurs there will certainly be significant ways in which I wasn’t prepared or perhaps could not have been.  But the most important thing will be to be able to say to the Lord at that time, “I prepared as best as I could.”  That will be a different amount of preparation for all of us, but if we can honestly say we tried our best to follow prophetic counsel about preparation, then we can confidently go to the Lord and seek His help in those difficult circumstances.  If we are prepared we shall not fear because we know that the Lord will help those who have diligently sought to keep His commandments.