If God is provident and all knowing why is there suffering and evil?

There are many answers to this question; most are very, very complicated; and they depend on personal belief systems. If you believe in God, then you know that no one can speak on His behalf because The Bible tells us that we cannot know the mind of God.

Rather than getting into a discussion (I'll let someone else do that if they wish to), of faith and theology, these are some generic things to consider.

God is NOT the Father of evil. If you're a Christian or Jew (I can't speak for other religions) and you believe in God, then you must by necessity believe that the devil is very real. According to the Talmud and the Bible, the devil is the father of evil. That's point one.

Point two is that we have free choice. Again, if you have the belief system of a Christian or Jew, then you believe that the suffering and evil we know today is the result of millenia of bad choices by humans, not by God.

People who have free choice bear the consequences for their decisions, good or bad. This is true of all things in life. Sometimes the evil and suffering that befalls is the result of choices by others. But it is always a choice by someone.

So, why would God who is all knowing and all wise create beings who have made choices that resulted in all the bad things of the world? There are many lines of reasoning about this. But the bottom line is that creating beings who make only the right choices is the same as taking away the freedom of choice. It has never been God's intent to enslave us to his Will.

So, back to the question of good and evil and why He would allow suffering and evil to thrive. We need to place the blame properly and it doesn't lie at God's feet. It lies at the devil's feet and that's where we should put it.

Once Eve, and then Adam, made the choice to fall, God set a plan into action to redeem us from evil, to vindicate Himself as just, true, and worthy; and to rip the disguise off the devil forever. But that plan couldn't unfold without the full Horror of sin unfolding before the heavenly hosts. All sympathy for the devil by the heavens needed to be rooted out. The full magnitude of evil needed to be exposed so that if evil ever raises its head again, it can be destroyed immediately.

This is what it means when the Bible says that there will be no more sorrow in the new heavens and new earth and that sin will never rise again. Everyone will have seen it for what it is and will always make the right choices of their free will, without coercion and fear. There will be no pain, suffering, and death.

This is not the way the devil operates. When Satan fell, he lured one-third of the heavenly host to fall with him before he ever started in on mankind. He lied and tricked man into sinning. He has enslaved us against our weak wills. This is not God's way.

Hopefully, that sheds a little light as one of many possible broad answers to your question.

There are many, many biblical passages that support these statements. Citations can be provided if desired.