God-in-a-Box

"Turn thou us into thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old." Lamentations 5:21

The source of Jerusalem's destruction (Lam. 1:5) is now (or perhaps has always been) its source of restoration. God is both in one: destroyer and restorer:

"See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." (Deuteronomy 32:39)
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." (Isaiah 45:7) Such is the paradox and poetry of God (as Michael Card would put it).
Honestly, though, if we would just stop looking at God as merely a super-powerful, moral being, and see Him as the Sovereign, Moral Creator and Savior of the Universe, the whole of life would become more understandable (though not necessarily easier).
Like any good poet or storyteller, God's epic that is the story of this world is FULL of peace and prosperity, crescendos and climaxes, and yes, even despair and desolation. "I the Lord do all these things." You mean the moral being? NO; for a moral being to tolerate and even use sin and evil is a contradiction. It is not the powerful "goodman" of the universe, but the Righteous and Loving, Sovereign Creator/Savior of the universe Who can use evil, punish evil, and save those who are evil and still remain true to His nature.
Our human minds seem hell-bent (pun intended) on putting God in a box, of setting our own preconceived limitations to His character that are completely divorced from all that Scripture tells us about Him. Maybe it's not a small box; it may be quite large comparatively. But it is STILL a box, i.e., our own created limits and boundaries. It is this "God-in-a-box" thinking that makes God ways seem contradictory (I seriously believe that the "problem of evil" wouldn't be a problem if we wouldn't look at ONLY God's power and goodness; in "The Problem of Pain," C.S. Lewis defeats the problem of evil by demonstrating how small our conception of God really is). If we would let our image of God out of the box and let Him be true to His nature (Let God be GOD), we will find His ways not contradictory, but higher (Isaiah 55:8-9), which is where they are supposed to be.
We MUST win back the image of God from the world and from nominal (i.e., in name only) Christianity. It all MUST GO: the booming voice, far in the clouds, with no personage or form; it must go! The indistinguishable figure, set in unapproachable light (which is true), and remains unapproachable (which is false); it must go! The flat talking deity, who is all brain and cold calculating precision with no personality; it must go! The wussy grandfather who just wants our happiness (and not our good); it must go! The harsh taskmaster (Lord, save us from this one!), whose Son died for our sins, so we had better spend every waking moment being spent to physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion so that we can keep in God's favor because of His sacrifice; it must go! The selfish praise-hoarder, who wants only our shallow affections (but not our true hearts); it must go! EVERY image of God that does not stand true to what the Bible confirms about Him must be cast into outer darkness where it belongs, for they are visions from Hell, devilish attempts to confuse us about and draw us away from the true character of God, and the true reality of life (like an answer to the problem of evil) that His character reveals.
"...I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." (Isaiah 1:2b) Where is the Father (see also Galatians 4:6-7)? "How is the faithful city become an harlot!" (Isaiah 1:21a) Where is the Lover? WHY do we pick and choose who God is? Why is He ONLY a judge, or sovereign, or loving, or good, or awesome, or higher, or father, or worthy of praise, and on and on? It is all "God-in-a-box" nonsense. If we would stop trying to categorize Him and let Him be God in our lives, we will be amazed at how small our world had been.