Genesis 1:6-8
Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
Matthew Henry: “2. The creation of it [the firmament]. Lest it should seem as if God had only commanded it to be done, and someone else had done it, he adds, ‘And God made the firmament’. What God requires of us he himself works in us, or it is not done. He that commands faith, holiness, and love, creates them by the power of his grace going along with his word.”
Clay Miller: “Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt” –Augustine. Creation obeyed God because God caused creation to obey Him. Our hearts are no different being dead as they are apart from Christ. I agree whole heartedly with Henry in that what God requires He Himself works in us. He grants regeneration, He makes us alive. He grants faith. He grants repentance. He grants all good we do. It is hard to fathom or even feel this due to His wisdom and ability to work through us in the way He does. But in the end all things are what they are because He did it. If this imposes upon some humanistic idea of free will, then so be it. The Bible does not teach the kind of free will people think it does…rather it teaches us that our will are captive, slaves of sin, dead, immobile, and blind. Our wills are in bondage to our hearts and our hearts are corrupt. We have the freedom to choose…but not the ability to choose God. We will always not choose or choose some corrupt form of God, because our hearts are incapable of seeing the true God’s worth and beauty…unless God intervenes and frees us, makes us alive, mobilizes us and opens our blind eyes. I thank God for this mercy!
