So anyway, I thought these verses might help to answer the main question for you, as to where evil comes from.
1Ki 22:19 And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
1Ki 22:20 And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
1Ki 22:21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
1Ki 22:22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
1Ki 22:23 Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.
Two things we need to understand here.
#1. The lying spirit is only doing what comes natural to it.
#2. Titus 1:15 says,
"To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled." Psalm 18:25-26 (NIV) agrees with this, saying,
"To the faithful" you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure" you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd." Jehoshaphat has subjected himself to the impure thoughts of Ahab, and as such his thinking has become defiled. Romans 1:26 (ESV) says that
"...the wrath of God " is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." Verse 28 says,
"...since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." This means that when we turn away from the truth, God will allow delusion to come into our lives.
In other words, God being sovereign over permitting an evil spirit to lie so as to accomplish God's plan in destroying one of his enemies does not mean God actually lied or that God approves of lying. All liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire according to Revelation 21:8; And God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19) (Titus 1:2) (Hebrews 6:18). This lying spirit will one day be destroyed because all liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire. God is only permitting evil to temporarily do what evil does while God manuevers a greater plan for good that we cannot always see in the midst of it all. Take for example the story of Joseph and his brothers. What Josephs' brothers intended for evil God intended it for good in that the bad they did towards Joseph turned out in the end towards a greater plan for good.
You said:
Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
Isa 63:18 The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
Isa 63:19 We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.
We have to ask the questions: Why does God harden a heart? Does God just harden people's hearts out of the blue for no reason? Surely not. God hardens the hearts of those who harden their own heart first. Those who suppress the truth and who continually reject God will have their hearts hardened by God. The person who is humble and seeking God is not going to have their heart hardened by God. Isaiah 63:17 is asking the question in why did God pull his sovereign hand away from protecting them from His good ways? It's because the sinner chose to go away from God by their sin. They started down that wrong path of sin of their own free will choice that freed up God's protection. When a person starts down that road of sin, it may feel like God is to blame for His allowing us to do so. But in the end, it really is the person who sinned that made that wrong choice. When a believer goes back to sin and they keep at it, there comes a point where God allows that believer to fall away from His protecting hand in doing His good ways. They have to learn how sin does not satisfy like only God and His good ways can truly satisfy. If they don't learn and they just keep eating their vomit again, and stay at it, they of course will be proving their true loyalty in where it lies. They have only to blame themselves in the end and not God.
You said:
Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
The best way to read verses like these is to read the whole chapter first. Anyone can quote verses out of context and that appears to paint a wrong picture of God. In context, the focus appears to be weapons. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;” (Isaiah 54:17). So lets look at one of the definitions for the word “
waster” with keeping this in mind.
Waster
(Websters 1916 Dictionary) Definition:
a blunt-edged sword used as a foil.
Source:
Waster | Definition of Waster by Webster's Online Dictionary
So God is saying that He created the sword that destroys. This does not mean that God is creating people whereby He programmed them to kill or destroy.
You said:
Amo 3:5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?
Amo 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
The word “evil” here is calamity.
Evil | Definition of Evil by Webster's Online Dictionary
Calamity is defined as:
Any great misfortune or cause of misery; - generally applied to events or disasters, etc.
In this particular case: It does not mean “evil” in the sense of like sinful beings or forces of darkness.
You said:
Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
The better word here for the word “
tempted” here would be “
tested” or “
To put to trial.”
See the word tempt here:
Tempt | Definition of Tempt by Webster's Online Dictionary
This does not mean the Lord desired to do evil.
Hebrews 7:26 says, “For such an high priest became us,
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;”
You said:
Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
And there are many other examples too.
Again, the word “evil” here is in reference to “calamity.” Calamity is chaos (like natural disasters, etc.) and it is the opposite contrast to peace (of which God makes as well). 1 John 1:5 says there is no darkness in God. This is not so much talking about an absense of light but it is talking about God's good moral character. God is good. God is love. God is the embodiment of all that is righteous and just and holy.