Free Will along with speech are the two gifts that God gave to man which define how we were created in His image.
Animals operate on instinct. They do not have Free Will - the ability to make choices.
Animals cannot speak from a formulation of ideas. They make noises based on a sensory reaction to things that happen around and to them.
Stone is lifeless, so is clay.
Humans have self-will.
We have to partner with the Lord to be shaped by Him.
It is the Word and the holy Spirit in us that transform us.
In the absence of either or both we remain a self-styled mess.
Free Will is a limited gift of God's soverignty.
It is the exercise of Free Will that reults in sin which results in sickness, disease, violence and death.
When the Age Of Grace ends, all those who have exercised their free will in rebellion against God and rejection of Christ Jesus will be destroyed, ultimately in the Lake Of Fire.
Those humans that remain will have WILLINGLY accepted and embraced the sovereignty of God over their own souls.
Such have become New Creatures through the Word and Holy SpiritOf Christ Jesus.