Christians usually reply to this question in three different ways in an attempt to justify God’s permission of evil. With each response, the common emphasis is that God always has a good reason behind evil and suffering.
1. Free Will
The first explanation to why evil exists is humans are significantly free moral agents who chose evil. Simple as that. As fallen, sinful people, we steal, murder, lie, commit adultery, and hate one another. As a result, much of the evil that we see is caused by the evil human decisions and actions we make.
2. Law of nature
Another explanation of why God permits evil is because the laws of nature demand it. For example, we all experience the benefits of gravity everyday. Drinking water is made easy and we never have the fear of bounding into space with one small hop. However, if someone slips and falls from the roof of their house, or accidentally puts their hand in a fire, they will immediately experience the consequential pain and suffering. Such evil is unavoidable and is a part of the natural order. Gravity will cause things to fall toward the earth, for good or evil; fire will burn things, for good or evil. To remove these consequences is to remove the very essence out of these laws of nature, thereby rendering the entire natural law ineffective.
To eliminate these kinds of evil, God would have to redefine or reorder all the laws of nature to something quite unimaginable and illogical. Or, God would have to constantly intervene (kind of like Superman) within the natural order to spare humans from the pain caused by natural laws
However, this latter option doesn’t work because if God had to continually suspend every cause-effect relationship that resulted in someone's pain or suffering, than people’s freedom to choose would ultimately be lost. So, natural laws must continue as they are, and as a result, pain and suffering will naturally occur.
3. Trials builds character
The last reason why God permits evil is for character development. Virtues such as integrity, hope, love, courage, self-control, justice, perseverance, and humility never fully develop within a person unless they are fostered through the crucible of pain and suffering. In this view, God can actually use the trials of pain and suffering for our good. They purge us spiritually and make us more like Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was virtuously perfect. This is the goal of Christianity - to become like Christ and follow Him intimately.
Not that these virtues earn a person favor before God, or are a means of achieving salvation. Rather, if we’ve trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, they work in us to make us more and more like Jesus. Becoming like Jesus is significant because it is the way God’s grace and salvation is displayed and glorified.
But can all evil be used by God for good? Is God able to use even sinister and heinous crimes for character building purposes?
It must be noted that to ask such a question assumes that we, in our finite human understanding, know a lot about God and what is necessary for the human heart to learn good. Therefore, the question appears unknowable from a human perspective because we are finite and God is in infinite in His knowledge. He must have good and justifiable reasons for His permission of evil, even gratuitous evil. He knows exactly what is necessary to bring about good in the human heart, no more, no less. God may, in allowing a particular evil to occur, prevent many other evils from occurring. In so doing, God’s mercy, goodness, and power are clearly displayed.
Often, we see an overlap of all three reasons why God permits evil. Due to the free decisions and actions of humans, people can suffer at the hands of the laws of nature, or because of their own sinful thoughts and behavior. Yet, in and through every evil situation, God is always in complete control and He promises the Christian believer that He is able to use all pain and suffering for our good and His glory.
So, God controls all natural and moral evil and allows evil to occur for good reasons. Therefore, Christians have hope in God and His promises in the midst of suffering.
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Promises God gives to those who believe in Him . . . 1.2.3
Related reading:
http://www.desiringgod.org/library/topics/suffering/god_and_evil.html
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