Why God shut down my TV when I wouldn't listen to Him

A couple of years ago God put it on my heart to stop watching Grey's Anatomy.  I really liked this show and had no intention of taking it off my list of shows to watch.  So what do you think I did?  I said, OK God I will stop watching at the end of the season.  At the time this happened it was not close to the end of the season.  I was trying to reason with God, trying to get my way just a little bit longer.  Our minds justify things we do and we think them to be OK since we are going to listen to God, eventually.  Well guess what happened.  The next week on Thursday morning my DIRECTV went out, the show was going to be on that night.  I still had everything on the DVR, but I could not watch any new shows.  This was a loud hint that I should have not tried to make a compromise with God, if I would have obeyed and said yes, I am confident that my TV viewing would not have been relegated to just what was on the DVR.  This was when my husband was out of town working in another state, so I just hung out and watched things that were already recorded (this show was not on the DVR).  Several weeks later we ended up switching companies to a new satellite carrier.  The installer mentioned that the old satellite dish cable had been loose.  You may think things like that just happen, but when we refuse to listen to God, He is more than capable of using anything that He sees fit to teach us a valuable lesson in His perfect timing.  I'm not a fan of thinking that things just happen in a chaotic randomness.

At first it didn't seem like such a big deal what I did in response to God, but it started to sink in that I was outright disobedient to something God called me to do.  Several times He has asked me to do something and I have listened, but not in this instance.  Sometimes in the small things we do not see the larger danger of disobedience.  This show did not have biblical values and I believe God wanted to weed out some of my entertainment choices.  You may think there is nothing wrong with this show, but for me it was time to quit watching.  We can't look around at other Christians and wonder why they get to do things that God has asked us not to do.  There are many Christians who watch shows and movies that are not considered Bible approved.  I still have work to do in this area and God is working on me.  I know He may not call you to cut out certain TV shows, movies or music, but I believe He is calling to many of us to make changes in what we see and hear.  God tends to work on us slowly over time starting with the big things and then moving on to the little things that we think to be insignificant that can come between us from getting to know Him better.  I cut out horror movies a long time ago, ideas of evil can influence your mind and if you tend to be paranoid like me it's not a good thing.  I am not a person who only watches and listens to Christian movies and music.  I like many things that are not considered "Christian", but are not bad influences either.  God can use most things in the entertainment industry to hint at His kingdom, but not all will see the message.  Many would never watch a "Christian" movie, but would gladly see an entertaining movie starring their favorite actor or actress.

Now when I see a commercial for this show I used to like so much, I don't feel even the tiniest bit interested to tune in.  I know that if I satisfied my flesh, my soul would suffer.  I am not trying to guilt anyone about their entertainment choices, I hope you all, along with myself, will make smarter choices.  Hollywood listens to money, so if we all would put our hard earned cash into good entertainment then they would start making more of it.  Unfortunately they get a lot of money from horror and R rated movies so they continue down that road until persuaded to a bigger cash cow.  There is a trend for romantic comedies to be R rated now, I guess that is to make the men want to go see them with their girlfriend or wife.  All it does is ruin a really good movie for a lot of us girls.  When we get desensitized, the movies continue to decline.  When will it be enough?  How low is the industry going to sink?

Our voice my be small against the world, but it is still a voice.