Writing in the Improvement Era in 1962, Joseph Fielding Smith offered this harmonisation of 1 Nephi 3:7 and D&C 84:4:
It should also be
remembered that the Lord opened the way for Nephi because the obtaining of the
plates was an absolute necessity as Lehi has pointed out. It was a matter of
spiritual life or death to have in their possession the sacred records which
Nephi was sent back to Jerusalem to obtain. Therefore the Lord overruled all
opposition and made it possible for Nephi to accomplish the work assigned to
him. Some critics may arise and say why then, could not the Lord overrule all
opposition in the day of the Prophet Joseph Smith and make it possible for the
building of the house of the Lord according to what had been written? It is a
sufficient answer to such a question to say, that the real time for the
building of that temple had not arrived, therefore the Lord postponed the day.
The building of the temple under all the conditions was not an essential
requirement in the year 1832. Surely the Lord would have overruled all
opposition had there been the necessity at that time for such a magnificent
building to be built. To the contrary he absolved the Saints and postponed the
day. When considering the word of the Lord concerning the efforts of the
members of the Church, it is wrong to think that the members were not diligent
in their duties in that day, and that the Lord had been overruled by wicked
men, and his commandments had failed. A similar incident of apparent failure
occurred in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon when through the persistent
pleading of Martin Harris the manuscript of the Book of Mormon was permitted to
be taken to exhibit to Mrs. Harris and some of her friends. The manuscript was
stolen and no doubt those who stole it made changes in it as the Lord indicated
that they would. The Prophet and Martin Harris felt that irreparable error had
been done, and they at first wondered why the Lord would permit such a serious
thing to happen. The truth is that the Lord knew what would happen from the
very beginning and had made provision for such a serious blunder. The loss of
this manuscript was felt to be a great lesson to the Prophet, which lesson
perhaps he greatly needed. The result thereof, however, was that the Lord had
in store a better account of the same historical events, far richer in detail.
The apparent evil therefore turned out to be a blessing for all who read the
Book of Mormon. Surely the Lord knows the end from the beginning, and no matter
what the actions of men may be the purposes of the Lord will prevail. (Joseph
Fielding Smith in The Improvement Era, September 1962, p. 631)
