Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”

They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. No one recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!” He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isaiah 44:16-20).

Here is very graphically illustrated the foolishness of idolators. From the same log that they use to burn in the fire to cook their meal, they take part of it to make their idol and then bow down to it. Yet, they do not recognize the folly of their actions. They do not realize that they are bowing down to a "block of wood" that they also just used to burn in the fire to cook their food. As Isaiah concludes, they do not understand that they are worshippig a lie.

What is more, Isaiah writes that God has clouded their eyes and their hearts so that they cannot see nor understand the folly in what they are doing.  

Friends, the Bible says that our eyes and minds are not clouded, but we kmow the truth by the Holy Spirit:

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us (1 Corinthians 2:12).

Therefore, when we continue after vain pursuits, we don't do it because we are deceived or because we are in ignorance, but because we simply choose to do it. Even though we know the eternal reality of heaven, we often choose simply to live the temporary and fleeting reality of this world. 

Friends, let us reconsider our ways. Let us learn to live as citizens of heaven, doing everything to please Him, who will take us to be with Him forever in Paradise. Let us stop living for ourselves but for Him who has so saved us.

Why do preachers often preach that God loves everyone the same? It is not true. Consider this passage in Isaiah as one of many evidences of this:

But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you. (Isaiah 43:1, 3, 4 NLT)

Israel was loved more than the other nations. Even when Israel is judged, she is not judged like the other nations. They are often completely destroyed, but she is only disciplined and a remnant is left for her. Even within Israel's heritage God says, "Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated" (Malachi 1:-3). Admittedly, this really has nothing to do with emotions as much as it has to do with God's sovereign choice of one over the other, but His love and election are often used interchangeably. Therefore, it is wrong to say that God loves everyone alike. 

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First I predicted your rescue, then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world. No foreign god has ever done this. You are witnesses that I am the only God,”says the LORD. (Isaiah 43:12 NLT)

Isaiah deliberately highlights predictive prophecy as an evidence of God's power over idols. As Unmi mentioned, God named "Cyrus" over a hundred years before he was born as the one that would decree Israel's return to their land from exile (Isaiah 44:28). God's power in absolutely successful predictive prophecy was to be a witness to the nations:

Gather the nations together!Assemble the peoples of the world! Which of their idols has ever foretold such things?Which can predict what will happen tomorrow? Where are the witnesses of such predictions?Who can verify that they spoke the truth? (Isaiah 43:9 NLT)

I have rebuked those that claim to make prophecies that don't come true. I have advised them to stop lest they be among the false prophets that lead God's people astray. So I also advise people at Global Harvest Church to stop going out to the IHOP (International House of Prayer) prophecy rooms, where self-proclaimed apostles and prophets try their hand at predictive prophecy, but with a success rate that's worse than the weather man. Since when does a prophet mature into his prophetic gift? Prophecy is not something to mature into. It's like pregnancy. You either have it or you don't. Why? As we learn here in Isaiah and also in the strong warnings in Deuteronomy, God's reputation is at stake. 

“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols. Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.” (Isaiah 42:8, 9 NLT)

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“From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.” (Isaiah 43:13 NLT)

I have a question for those that believe that their salvation is even partially on account of their choosing God of their own free will. For argument's sake, let's say this is true, and that God will in no wise violate your free will. Where then is your security? If you are to be consistent with your premise, namely, that God does not violate your free will, can't you just as easily unchoose God as you have chosen Him? After all, people are fickle. They tend to believe anything and everything if the person sharing is persuasive enough. So, just to be clear, if you believe in the inviolability of free will, you must also reject eternal security, that is, once saved always saved. 

However, this is not true if you believe in God's sovereign election. Since God alone and completely achieves salvation, the believer never has to fear that he will lose his salvation, even by a faltering faith. His faith will not falter because he did not create it, but God gave it to him. This is the point of Isaiah 43:13, which Jesus cites in John 10:28-29:

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. (John 10:28, 29 NLT)

You may ask, 'Why does God do this? Why would He save us in this way?' I would answer, 'Would you rather that He condemned all of us? Because none of us deserve to be saved. And the one saved is no better than the one condemned. You either believe that it is purely because of the generosity of God's grace in choosing us or else you must say that you were "lucky enough" to have the right mind to choose God when you did. Yet, the Bible says that we would never freely choose God. No one seeks God (Romans 3:11). More than this, people are actively going the other way (Romans 3:12). Paul goes so far as to say that we were "dead in our trespasses" and "by nature children of wrath':

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:1-5 NIV)

I ask you, 'How can the dead believe in the living God?' Don't you know, it was the same for Israel in Isaiah's day? They too needed God's grace. Consider what Isaiah says about them:

You have not brought me fragrant calamus or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices.Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your faults. “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. Let us review the situation together, and you can present your case to prove your innocence. From the very beginning, your first ancestor sinned against me; all your leaders broke my laws. (Isaiah 43:24-27 NLT)

God clearly says that from Adam ("your first ancestor") to their present day they had all sinnned against God. They were all deserving of judgment. But right in the midst of this declaration of guilt, we read, "I-- yes, I alone-- will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again." This is the reason for our praise. When it was not in us to choose God, He chose us for salvation.  

 It is important to accept the book of Isaiah as truly prophetic and God inspired for it is this book that contains so many prophecies of the coming Messiah: the Branch of David, the Servant of the Lord, the Suffering Servant. So much of the description of this future Messiah are also very specific and each of these very specific details were fulfilled in no one other than Jesus Christ.