Does God Make Evil?

Isaiah 45 gives us an insight into our question for today. Verses 5-7 are His narrative to Cyrus and explain to Cy why God is using him to perform His will with regard to the Jews. (For those who have not read the story here and elsewhere, God sent them home to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon and Medo-Persia. Cyrus ordered it.)
    "I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God.
    I will gird you, though you have not known Me; 6 That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, 7 The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.

Does verse 7 shed some light on our question? Does God make evil? There are two parallel phrases that bothered me when I first saw them. I like the "forming light" and "causing well-being," but the accompanying clauses were troublesome. The nice thing about memorizing and meditating is that you stick with the "problem" passages and then, out of the blue, the answer comes. Actually it is the Holy Spirit doing His job. (John 14:26) He "teaches us" or reveals all things.

How did and does God "create darkness?" And why or how does He "create calamity?" My science training tells me that "dark" and "cold" do not exist. "Dark" is the absence of light. Absolutely no light, and you have absolute darkness. "Cold" is the absence of heat. Absolute zero means that there is absolutely no energy at all. This condition probably does not exist, because some heat would "seep" into it from the surrounding environment. But science can get very close.

This idea helps us to understand how God could "make calamity, or evil." One of the pairs is the presence of a quantity, light and heat. So "good" and ‘bad" may also be defined by the presence and absence of something.

"Well-being" is blessing and God's provision. So "calamity" would be the opposite of that, an absence of God's presence. We can substitute "good" and "evil" for these and accomplish the same understanding. "Good" is the presence and provision of God. "Every good gift...comes from the Father of lights." (James 1:17)

When God provides anything for us, it is "good." Conversely, anything that He does not provide should be, at best, suspect. If it isn't from Him, do we really want it?

Does God "create' evil or calamity? I would suggest that anything that lacks His involvement would be in our categories of "not so good." God does not create evil, but that is the result when He is excluded or withdraws. These negative outcomes are a result of ignoring or rejecting God and His provision or guidance.

So what about when "bad things happen to good people?" Is "bad" always evil? Thankfully we have Romans 8:28 to guide our thoughts. God makes everything to work for our good. It might not be what we think is "good." But it is what He knows is "good" and best for us. An Old Testament Scripture illustrates it differently. Jeremiah 29:11. Jeremiah is prophesying before the Jews are taken into captivity. Jeremiah warns that they will go "away" for 70 years. Bad, right? Look at what the Lord says:
    "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

Notice the specific response. "...not of evil...." To them it seemed a disaster, a calamity, if you please. But God is working for an "expected end." And that was accomplished. The nation of Israel was cleansed of idols, permanently. Idol worship was the impetus for much or maybe all of their disobedience from the time they left Egypt (calves) throughout their history (Asherah, Baal, etc.).

Once they returned from captivity, there were no idols anywhere in the land. God had worked "good" for them, and just for good measure, He repeated it for us in Romans 8:28.

Does God make evil? Evil would accurately be defined as anything without God. So when He is "there" no evil can exist. Only when he is excluded or withdraws completely, can we declare that evil is done. But He did not do it. The excluders or those forcing Him out are the cause of evil.

Does that answer your question? Even in the message to Cyrus, before the fact, the Lord promises that the "calamity" of deportation will result in "well-being" of restoration when Cyrus sends them home. 

Don't you just love how God takes seeming evil and turns it into a opportunity to praise Him? He repeats it in Romans 11:33. Paul just outlined how the removing of Israel from God's "tree" or the falling away of Israel led to the salvation of the Gentiles. And the salvation of the Gentiles paved the way for the return, permanently, of Israel. God took the "bad" separation" to produce a permanent reconciliation. Listen to Paul's shout of exultation and acclimation.
    O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Just as Joseph, about 1500 years earlier proclaimed, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." (Genesis 50:20) That is God's way. Evil can only exist with no God.

The answer to the question is, then, "Get in touch with God." No evil can prevail. Glory.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+11&version=KJV