A crux on Good and Evil, traced to First Causes.

"...thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give..."  -1 Samuel 2:32

So the pastor was speaking about God chastening us, and I was thinking of all the promises that would seem broken, if he provided our wrongs, along with our items of providence.

Would it seem that God has a mean streak, that he tests and tempers us with troubles?  Its like the saying "he who made kittens, put snakes in the grass".

But the truth of this statement is that God does have a good plan for each of us, because He loves us.

The crux of Him providing both evil and good to the believer is in the fact that God created it all: he created the evil that forsook Him to establish his own kingdom opposite God.

He created the challenger, and had that challenger Faith, Hope and Love, would not the world be so much the better these days?  If, and only if, that prince of the power of the air not turned against God, this would be heaven on Earth.

So ultimately, if we trace reasons and causes all the way back to creation, we find the God is the author of all, as some say that everything is merely the thoughts of God: all of us, the world, the sun and stars, but the thoughts of God.