All of us have questioned if God is really good at some point because He hasn't given us something we have asked for, but we also tend to minimize our responsibility in our relationship with Him. We put it all on God because we've been taught He is in control of everything - so it removes our responsibility and makes it easier on us. The first thing Satan did was to plant a seed of doubt about God's goodness and he's been doing the same thing ever since, but now he uses preachers teaching wrong theology about God's character. What we do matters and what we don't do also matters! If we think God created evil and then sent Jesus to rescue us from that evil, it makes Him a fraud because He wouldn't be good if he created evil. It goes against His character. We must remember in the absence of knowledge not to make up nonsense! God sets us up for blessing, but we must follow Him and do our part if we want to receive what He has for us. He gave us the gift of free will, which allows us to choose (and misuse), and then we blame the consequences on Him. As long as choice has existed, there is always a chance that evil will come because we can choose to go against what God intends for us. To eliminate evil, God has to eliminate free will; if He eliminates free will, He eliminates love. We must understand that we can only see things linearly, so we can't begin to understand everything about God, or He wouldn't be God - we would be. Don't go beyond the Bible - focus on what we DO know! Where evil reigns strongly in our world, it is because Christians know to do good and are not doing it. We are made in God's image - having free will, authority and power given to us to create and take life - so we can affect Gods plan. This is why we must consider how important our words and actions are. God can redeem all things, but we must allow Him close in order to receive it.

Amen!

Reference verses: Romans 2:8-12; Proverbs 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-16; James 1:13-14; 1 John 1:5; Romans 8:28; Romans 5:12-13; John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Genesis 1:28; John 19:11; Proverbs 3:27; James 4:17; Psalm 139:13-15; Genesis 1:12, 1:21, 1:27-28; James 1:17; Psalm 145:9; Genesis 25:21; 1 Kings 13:15-24; Matthew 6:10; Romans 2:4; Matthew 5:16