can someone explain why god isn’t considered evil when he commanded so many people to do horrible things?

genuine question. i was raised baptist and i consider myself to be a follower of christ, but not necessarily “christian”. i believe that jesus is my savior and that jesus is perfect and all good. however, i’m questioning a lot of god’s actions, especially in the old testament. nowadays, i feel like most people would be horrified if they were to hear god command them to slaughter women, children, animals, etc. it seems like an evil thing to do. i’m just having trouble accepting that god is all good based off of those things.

please no negative comments towards me. i’m trying to learn and understand.