The question you raise is one that faithful Christians have struggled with for thousands of years. The fancy name for it is “Theodicy”. This word means something like a conversation about God’s justice. There are a number of ways in which people through the centuries have answered this question. Here’s a brief sketch of a few answers:

 

1) These bad things (even in the natural world) are not God’s will but are a result of human sinfulness. God created the world to be good, but we disobeyed God (see Adam and Eve in Genesis) and as a result this good creation has been stained by sin. As a result, there is death, disease, destructive storms, and other things that were not God’s will originally. You could also argue that many natural disasters do have a link to humans. Some say that hurricanes are getting worse due to global warming from the use of fossil fuels. Because of the pollution we put into our environment we’ve made ourselves sick or made land uninhabitable. We’ve caused whole species to go extinct and the disruption of the food chain has caused other unforeseen consequences. All of these aren’t controlled by people directly but may be a result of their actions. So, bad things happen because of the reality of sin.

 

2) Others say that these evil things are caused by the one who opposes God, the devil. In this view these bad things are not God’s will at all but caused by the devil so that people might despair and turn from God. There are biblical texts that support this view. In the gospels Jesus often heals people by casting out demons.  

 

3) There are others who believe that God uses events (even ones we perceive as bad) to do good things. Both the apostle Paul and Martin Luther talked about God using troubles in our lives to strengthen our faith. Paul likened it to the process by which a metal is purified by burning off what has contaminated it. You might also think of it like weight training. A muscle only gets stronger when it is tested against a weight. Lifting weights isn’t always pleasant, but you do get stronger. So, the thinking here goes that your faith only gets stronger when it is tested by some disaster in your life. There is also a biblical witness that God uses natural events as well as people to do his will. 

     Now you may say, “This doesn’t seem right.  Why should innocent people suffer?”. Luther would respond by saying that we are all sinners and deserve to be punished.  He would also say that because God is God anything he does is, by definition, just. In other words, God alone defines what is just.

 

There are things to like and dislike about each of these solutions and each probably says more about the person who believes in it than it does about God. However, there is one thing to keep in mind. We cannot fully understand God and God’s actions because to do so would mean that we were God. Ultimately, we trust that God is a God of love and grace who wants life for us. How that works out in the world is something we may never fully know.