On 9/11 I heard shell-shocked people in New York trying to comfort each other by saying, "God is in control. God is in control."

Given the circumstances, I didn't find that very comforting.

I have a good friend who insists that God allowed the Black Death, chattel slavery, and the Holocaust "to prevent something much worse."
I suppose if general nuclear war ever breaks out, the argument will be the same.

And if those starving children are God screaming at you, it would seem that God reproaches some people by having others die in agony.

I don't find that very comforting either.