Good question, Terry. Perhaps contrived randomness is not really random to an all knowing God, and true randomness does not exist. Hum. There goes my free will.
Still, if the universe, including us, is just a machine, I think that it is sort of pointless. God would say,” Well, that worked.” Then put it on the shelf and go on to his next project. It seems some degree of randomness and with it, free will, is necessary for meaning to be present. It is sort of the difference in raising a garden and going to the grocery store, for those of us who garden.