Ralph Swenson was once filling potholes with asphalt when a voice asked him, “Do you have your year’s supply?”

“No,” he answered in his mind.

The voice replied, “Then you probably wouldn’t have smeared blood on your door posts, either, would you?!”

Brother Swenson was stunned.  He resolved to get his year’s supply, and did so.

Could the commandment to have a year’s supply of food and necessities be as crucial to our survival as smearing blood on the lintels and door posts was to the survival of the Israelites?

Do you remember the story?  Moses was commanded to warn the Children of Israel that the destroying angel would pass through Egypt that night, and that every “firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast,” would be smitten.  (Exodus 12:12).

“And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead,” (Exodus 12:30) except among the children of Israel.  The Lord had passed over every house that had blood on the door posts.

Brother Swenson did a good deal of thinking about that event.  “What if a person was agnostic and disbelieving?” he asked.  “When given the warning, he’d have probably thought, ‘What good would that do?’ and wouldn’t have smeared blood on his door posts.”

Smearing blood on the lintels and door posts of our homes would seem a silly, unreasonable, and messy thing to do.  It wouldn’t make sense to an unbelieving, prideful person.  Pharaoh wouldn’t have done it even if he’d been told to.  It wouldn’t make sense to a believer, either, but a believer would do it just because it was a commandment coming from a man whom he sustained as a prophet of the Lord.

Adam was commanded to offer the firstlings of his flocks as a sacrifice to the Lord.  (Moses 5:5).  He was obedient to the commandment, but had no idea why he was doing it.

“And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying:  Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord?  And Adam said unto him:  I know not, save the Lord commanded me.”  (Moses 5:6).

Had Adam been a non-believer, he might have reasoned, “What good would that do?” and might have ignored the commandment.  He’d have missed the explanation that was offered later, and he’d have totally missed out on the associated blessings.

When the prophet of the Lord speaks, do you figuratively say in your mind, “What good would that do?”  That’s what we’re saying when we ignore his counsels.

What has the prophet said?  Here is a brief summary of what he told us to do during the last general conference:

“We affirm that missionary work is a priesthood duty—and we encourage all young men who are worthy and who are physically able and mentally capable to respond to the call to serve.”  (The Ensign, November 2012, pg. 5).

“We continue to need many more senior couples.  As your circumstances allow, as you are eligible for retirement, and as your health permits, I encourage you to make yourselves available for full-time missionary service.  Both husband and wife will have a greater joy as they together serve our Father’s children.”  (Ibid).

“I admonish you to work to achieve…a testimony.  If it is strong and deep, labor to keep it that way.”  (Ibid, pg. 68).

“My message…is that there are countless individuals who have little or no testimony right now, those who could and would receive such a testimony if we would be willing to make the effort to share ours and to help them change.”  (Ibid).

“We should develop the capacity to see men not as they are but as they can become…”  (Ibid, pg. 70).  “I would plead with you to think of them in this way.”  (Ibid).

“(The Lord) told us that we receive (the priesthood) with an oath and a covenant.  He gave us the instruction that we must be faithful and true in all that we receive, and that we have the responsibility to keep this covenant even unto the end.”  (Ibid).

“In response to a call, (many thousands of missionaries) have left behind home, family, friends, and school and have gone forward to serve.  Those who don’t understand ask the question, ‘Why do they respond so readily and willingly give so much?’

“Our missionaries could well answer in the words of Paul,... ‘for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!’”  (Ibid. pg. 71, and 1 Cor. 9:16).

“After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the gospel.”  (Ibid, quoting Joseph Smith).

“To each of us comes the mandate to share the gospel of Christ.”  (Ibid).

“I pray that we will have the courage to extend the hand of fellowship, the tenacity to try and try again, and the humility needed to seek guidance from our Father as we fulfill our mandate to share the gospel.  The responsibility is upon us.”  (Ibid).

“I testify that much…joy comes as we recognize that we can communicate with our Heavenly Father through prayer and that those prayers will be heard and answered—perhaps not how and when we expected they would be answered, but they will be answered and by a Heavenly Father who knows and loves us perfectly and who desires our happiness.”  (Ibid, pg. 86).

“I believe that the more we act upon the inspiration and impressions which come to us, the more the Lord will entrust to us His errands.”  (Ibid, pgs. 86, 87).

“Our Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and will help us as we call upon Him for assistance.  I believe that no concern of ours is too small or insignificant.  The Lord is in the details of our lives.”  (Ibid, pg. 88).

“I encourage you to read the (general conference) talks… and to ponder the messages contained therein.”  (Ibid, pg. 110).

There you have the concrete things from the last general conference that our prophet has asked us to do.  An unbeliever might ask about those things, “What good would that do?”

What good would reading the conference talks do?

What good would praying for help about the details of our lives do?

What good would acting upon our inspirations and impressions do?

What good would it do to fulfill our mandate to share the gospel?

What good would it do to be faithful and true and to keep our priesthood covenants?

What good would it do to see people not as they are, but as they can become?

What good would it do to make the effort to get, and to share, our testimonies?

What good could a retired couple do while serving a mission?

What good would it do for a young man to look upon a mission as a priesthood duty, and to serve one?

The answer to those questions is:  It would do all the good in the world!  These are all small, almost insignificant things in the grand scale of things; but if faithfully acted upon, their impact is huge—in our lives, and in the lives of the people who have been placed within the circles of our influence.

What good would that do?

One small, silly, seemingly unrelated act saved the lives of all the firstborn Israelites.

Laying in a year’s supply may well save the lives of your children in a coming day.

A prophet of the Lord told the Israelites to strike their door posts with blood.

Prophets of the Lord have repeatedly told us to get a year’s supply of necessities.

Our current prophet has asked us to read the talks from general conference, to pray, to act upon our impressions, to share the gospel, to keep our covenants, to help people become better, to get a testimony and to share it, and to serve a mission, whether we’re young or older.

When the prophet speaks, if we think, “What good would that do?” and ignore his counsel, we put ourselves in jeopardy of losing the attached blessings.

Brigham Young once passed a man who was building an adobe house.  He told the man to double the thickness of the walls.  Doubling the thickness of the walls more than doubled the amount of work the man had to do, but he did it.  Later, when a flood came and destroyed less-well-built homes, the man was heard singing, “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet.”

“What good would that do?”

Act upon it.

Just do it.

You’ll see.