9010. 'And God caused it to happen at his hand' means appearing as something happening by chance. This is clear from ancient people's idea of chance, which was that whatever happened was brought about by God; and this was why they expressed the idea of chance by saying that 'God caused it to happen at someone's hand'. Those who belonged to the ancient Churches knew that the Lord's providence was present in every single thing, and that contingencies, that is, things which appeared to happen by chance, were providential. Simple people therefore who could see no difference between things that happened because He permitted them and those that happened because He was well pleased by them attributed to the Lord both good and evil, good because they knew that He was the author of everything good, but evil on account of the appearance. For when a person performs evil deeds, and by performing them turns away from the Lord, the appearance is that the Lord turns away; at this time the Lord appears to him to be behind, not in front of him. These then are the reasons why if anyone struck another by chance, that is, his will had not contemplated the deed beforehand, the words 'God caused it to happen at his hand' were used to express it.

The Lord's providence is in every single thing, see 1919 (end), 4329, 5122 (end), 5155, 5195, 5894 (end), 6058, 6481-6487, 6489, 6491, 7004, 7007, 8478, 8717.

Contingencies or chance occurrences are providential, 5508, 6493, 6494.

Evil is attributed to the Lord, when in fact it originates in man, 2447, 5798, 6071, 6832, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7877, 7926, 8197, 8227, 8228, 8282, 8284, 8483, 8632.

6493. I have often talked to spirits about fortune, which seems to people in the world like haphazard chance since they do not know its origin; and some, because they do not know its origin, deny its existence. Whenever something happened to me that seemed haphazard, the angels told me that it happened because evil spirits were present, and when I suffered some mishap, they said that the sphere of that kind of spirits was prevailing. Evil spirits also discovered how, by the use of the tricks they knew, to produce a sphere from which misfortunes resulted that looked plainly like the products of mere chance. The angels went on to say that all things, in fact the smallest of all things, and even the smallest of the smallest, are directed by the Lord's Providence, down to the very steps taken by the feet. And when the kind of thing prevails that is contrary to Providence, misfortunes occur. They also substantiated the assertion that there is no such thing as mere chance and that what seems to be haphazard, or fortune, is Providence at work in the last and lowest degree of order, in which all things are subject to comparative inconstancy.