There is so much corruption, chaos and death in our world that many people find it hard to belief that a good loving god is in control. How does the bible address this issue?

God's duty

It is a wrong assumption that it is God's duty to do good things that please us. Instead, it is written:

Why should the Gentiles say, “So where is their God?”

But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.

-- Psalms 115:2-3 NKJV

Another Psalmist also confirms that nothing dictate to God what He should do:

For I know that the LORD is great, and our Lord is above all gods.

Whatever the LORD pleases He does in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places.

• He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;
• He makes lightning for the rain;
• He brings the wind out of His treasuries.
• He destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast.
• He sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, O Egypt, Upon Pharaoh and all his servants.
• He defeated many nations and slew mighty kings:
  • Sihon king of the Amorites,
  • Og king of Bashan, And
  • all the kingdoms of Canaan
• And gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to Israel His people.

Your name, O Lord, endures forever, Your fame, O Lord, throughout all generations.

-- Psalm 135:5-13 (NKJV)

The prophet Isaiah also challenges the idea that God is only supposed to do good things:

"That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other:

• I form the light and create darkness,
• I make peace and create calamity;
• I, the LORD, do all these things."

-- Isaiah 45:6-7 (NKJV)

Other bible authors also came to the same conclusion, like Job (Job 42:2) and Solomon (Proverbs 16:9; 19:21)

Yet, King David explains that:

God is the owner

The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. -- Psalms 24:1 (NKJV)

And King David believed God is the supreme ruler:

The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.
Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.
Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
Bless the LORD, all His works, in all places of His dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!

-- Psalms 103:19-22 (NKJV)

and

Therefore David blessed The LORD before all the assembly; and David said:

“Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness: the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all.
Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.

-- 1 Chronicles 29:10-12 NKJV

This teaching was also echoed by Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:5-9).

In addition, Jesus also implied that God is in control even to the smallest detail:

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?

And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

-- Matthew 10:29-30 NKJV

Human are supposed to rule the world

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion

• over the fish of the sea,
• over the birds of the air, and
• over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

-- Genesis 1:26 NKJV

Some reason that the fall of man cancelled this priviledge based on the devil's own words:

And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him (Jesus),

“To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.

-- Luke 4:5-6 ESV

Jesus never challenged this claim. However, in the same book of Genesis we also read:

God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them:

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.”

-- Genesis 9:1-2 NKJV

This means that the original command God gave Adam and Eve never expired. Noah and his sons were still authorized to have dominion. God never delivered the world to the devil. We, as humans who is supposed to have dominion, delivers it to him.

King David also wrote:

What is man that You are mindful of him? And the son of man that You visit him?

For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen — even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.

-- Psalms 8:4-8 NKJV

How the devil rule the world

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, -- 1 Timothy 4:1-2 NKJV

Let's consider these examples:

• Disobedience to God, leads to rebellion which is sin which leads to death. This is how the Snake rule.
• Obedience to God, dispite having alternative shortcuts or temptations leads to righteousness which leads to authority. This is how Jesus rule and set the example.

Another example from the New Testament:

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him... -- John 13:2 ESV

More examples:

... and so forth.

While it might seems like the Snake is the god of this world, he technically does not own anyone or anything. However, with his clever cunning and deceitful ways, he is persuading people do his will. This is directly in contrast with Jesus that prayer:

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name (authority).

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

-- Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV

Our lives are not about ourselves, it is about "Our Father". What is important is not our will, but Our Father's will. Jesus first recorded sermon was about the fighting for God's Kingdom so that His "kingdom come" and His "will be done".

By default "the evil one" will lead us into temptation so that we do things according to "the evil one's" will. The oldest trick in the book is:

• Doubt: Make us doubt God's plan/commands - for that we should submit to "Your will be done"
• Greed: Make us doubt God's provision or protection - for that we need to ask for "our daily bread"
• Guilt: Make us doubt God's forgiveness - for that we need to ask God to forgive us
• Resentment: Make us dissatisfied on how God treat others, therefore we judge others to pardon our revenge or bitterness - for that we need to forgive our debtors
• Make us proud and entitled - for that we need to humbly submit to God's leadership: "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory".

The Snake's strategy never changes:

1. He plant ideas of doubt, greed, guilt or resentment which leads to fear (fear that God's plan will fail, that God will not provide or protect, that God did not forgive, that God will not judge, etc...)
2. Fear generally makes people irrational as a survival mechanism.
3. Then the great tempter provide a solution to our fear which always result in sin (like greed, spite, pride, etc) (Proverbs 29:25; Romans 14:23; Hebrews 3:12). Often we belief the lie that "we have no choice" or that it is "right to do wrong".
4. Once we sinned, that is when the accuser claim our dominion (for example Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7 and Zechariah 3:1-5) to have his will.

"The Kingomd of Darkness"

There is an invisible war between God's Kingdom and the "evil one's" influence on the world in the absense of humanity's dominion.

The idea of 2 competing gods comes from Paul's comment:

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe... -- 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NKJV

However, in this context it means that "those whose minds are blinded" follow a false "god" instead of the true God. Paul explains it more clearly in Ephesians:

And you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once lived:

• in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, as also the rest.

-- Eph`siyim / Ephesians 2:1-3 TS2009

Note: Some bible translations like the NIV replace "authority" with "kingdom" which is an incorrect translation of the book of Ephesians according to the Strong's Concordance. Other bible translations like the KJV or ESV replaces "authority" with "power" which is could be correct as long as we understand that the devil received his "power" by "the authority" that we gave him in our disobedience to God.

"The ruler" is an evil spirit that tempt us to be disobedient by lust and wrath so that we may loose our God given authority. Sin makes us vulnerable to "the wicked one"'s influence according to John:

We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. -- 1 John 5:18-19 NKJV

1 Enoch 6-8 and 69 explains how the fallen angels taught humanity various illicit arts like weapons and enchantments which illustrates how humanity was influenced to create a wicked world.

Jesus also identified the devil as someone who deceive people to do things according to his desires:

Jesus said to them,

“If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.

Why do you not understand what I say?

It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.

• He was a murderer from the beginning, and
• does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
• When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

Which one of you convicts me of sin?
If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

-- John 8:42-47 ESV

A few chapters further, Jesus explains calls himself "the shepherd" (also a ruler) and then contrast himself with "the thief" in John 10:1-16 which we can assume is "the devil".

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. -- John 10:10 NKJV

Then a few chapters later Jesus announced:

Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. -- John 12:31 NKJV

This implies, that "the ruler of this world" has no legal right to own a kingdom in this world. In John 16:7-11 Jesus explained that the Holy Spirit will judge "the ruler of this world".

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. -- John 14:30-31 ESV

This implies, that "the ruler of this world" was trying to get Jesus to disobey the Father to break down his relationship with his Father.

Jesus also prayed:

I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. -- John 17:15-16 NKJV

Jesus was not referring to the devil's kingdom, but instead he addressed the people who were trapped in the deceptions of the world, because after this statement he prayed:

As You sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. -- John 17:18 NKJV

Jesus would never sent his disciples away to join "the evil one's" kingdom. Instead, "the world" are the people who are deceived and by "the evil one".

When he (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” -- Matthew 9:36-38 ESV

One of these disciples were Paul, who explained that he saw in his vision where Jesus told him:

I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ -- Acts 26:17 NKJV

Cancelling the power of darkness

He (God, the Father) has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. -- Colossians 1:13-14 NKJV

"The power" that the devil have is nothing but a "legal demand" of "debt":

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. -- Colossians 2:13-15 ESV

See also Job, Zechariah 3 as examples how the devil legally demanded destruction for God's people.

We have not been left under the mercy of evil rulers who are under the influence of "the evil one". Instead Daniel who were exiled to Babilon said:

He (God) removes kings and raises up kings. -- Daniel 2:21 NKJV

Paul's strategy

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

-- Ephesians 6:12-13 NKJV

The "armor of God" is:

• truth: Guard your reputation by speaking the truth (2 Corinthians 6:7)
• righteousness: Guard your heart against idols by loving God instead (1 Thessalonians 5:8; 2 Corinthians 6:6)
• the good news: Spread the revelation of God's Kingdom
• faith/trust: Trust God when under attack in difficult times
• salvation: Guard your mind against temptations, sin and condemnation (1 Thessalonians 5:8-9; Romans 12:2)
• word of God: Obey God's word (1 John 2:3-6)
• prayer & supplication: Persevere by earnestly and humbly praying for all the saints (Romans 12:12)

We are not supposed to fight governing authorities, instead Paul advises:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. -- 1 Timothy 2:1-4 NKJV