When it comes to addressing God’s relationship to evil, or not even evil but just unfortunate or unpleasant events, sometimes believers have a tendency to exclusively use very passive words like “allow” or “permit.” But it seems to me that this just isn’t the way Bible describes God’s involvement in unsavory events.

Consider the following (from the ESV):

• God summoned a famine (Psalm 105:16)
• God turned the hearts of the Egyptians to hate the Israelites (Psalm 105:25)
• God makes people mute, deaf, or blind (Exodus 4:11)
• Rehoboam’s foolishness leading to a divided kingdom was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD (1 Kings 12:15)

I’m sure there are more examples, but the point is that sometimes the way the Bible speaks about God’s relationship to these events is much more active and direct than just saying that he allowed or permitted certain things.