You've put me in a situation where I feel compelled to apologize for god's actions. I don't think this would necessarily mean he was doing this to be a malicious trickster.

If he made it obvious, then you could scientifically prove that the Earth was 6000 years old, which would be proof that the Bible was the actual truth, and then it wouldn't be a matter of faith. The Christian god places faith above almost everything else, so if you take away the faith and prove god exists, that ruins everything. So to save your soul, god has to put misleading evidence so that you can still have faith.

Of course, the real reason religions need faith is because that's the tool that the religious leaders use to exert power and control over the people they're tricking. And of course, that makes young earth creationists the biggest suckers in a sea of suckers.