I don't believe that God causes these things to happen "for our own good" by any means, but that he can bring redemption out of them in spite of everything.
No, it was not God's original intent that we suffer the consequences of Man's sinful behaviors, the negative results of giving us free will. But He will use these trials and tribulations to help mold us, to use the flames of adversity to forge stronger metals and drive out the slag of impurities and to temper our steel. It is a strange irony that it takes stress to make us grow stronger.
