The Ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines

1Sa 6:9  And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us. 

The Ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. For seven terrible months it had spread among them anxiety, terror, and death. They were determined to send the Ark back to Israel. They decided how to return the ark, including a test to see if the judgment was of God or of chance (v.7-9).

The test is simple. They arranged for two female cows which had calves, and which had never been yoked to pull the cart that transported the Ark of God. They took their calves home, away from them. They deemed that the “maternal instinct” of the cows would have drawn them not towards the land of Israel, but back home to their own calves. They reckoned: “And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us” (v.9).

It was a chance that happened to us - The cows were to be left without guidance to determine their path. If they took the road to a city of Judea, it would be a token that all their trouble had come from the God of the Hebrews. But if they took the road that led back in the Philistine country, it would prove that there had only been a coincidence, and no relation of cause and effect between the capture of the ark and the evils that had befallen them.

Many people think things happened by chance. Many say the world was created by chance. But assigning the creation to “chance” is foolishness because chance has no creative power and intelligence. “Chance” is not a living thing. It has no life, no form, no emotion, no intelligence, and no power. “Chance” only describes a probability. For example, when a coin is flipped, the chance that it will land “heads” is 50%. However, “chance” does not make it land heads. Whether or not it lands heads or tails is due to the strength with which the coin is flipped, the amount of air currents and air pressure as it flies through the air, where it is caught, and if it is flipped over once it is caught. Chance doesn’t do anything other than describe a probability.
                                                                                                                          
Therefore, when someone says that the universe or anything else came about by chance, they are ascribing a statistical probability. And, that probability is so remote that it is safe to conclude that the universe could never happen by chance. And, the human body could never happen by chance. Every living cell is so complex and ordered than it is impossible that even the simplest form of life could ever have originated by chance.

Chance is a non-being and therefore, it determines nothing. The Philistines were leaving things to chance. But it was God who directed the cows where to go. We live in a cause and effect world, and chance is not a cause, but God is the great Cause. And God is the Cause of all things: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

How about Christians? Do you think things happened by chance? If you do, you have little faith. You must learn to trust God. When Joseph was finally reconciled with his brethren, he did not say it was chance that he was sold to Egypt. Instead, he said: “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God” (Genesis 45:7, 8, emphasis mine).

Let us trust in God and not chance: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6).