At The Window of My House

My roommate and I were discussing my upcoming vacation plans at dinner one night. I haven’t yet decided where all I will visit, but am hoping to spend some time in Seoul. I told him, “Mostly, I would like a comfortable hotel where I can get some rest. It has been a busy four months. I just want to relax and walk to some nearby sites for fun.”

We have a large window in our living room, with a view of a busy street, E-Mart, and a row of hotels. He looked out and said, “Some Korean motels will be cheaper and more comfortable than the popular tourist hotels. We can search the internet for prices.”

I inquired, out of curiosity, “Do many visitors stay in those hotels across the street? I didn’t know that Suwon would attract that many outsiders.” He replied, “Oh, you never want to stay at those. If you are a tourist or a family, those places are…dirty. Those are the motels where husbands go to cheat on their wives.”

…

I remember the night-time walks home to my apartment in China. There, like here, you would see the pink glow of a neon light coming from so-called massage parlors, with women waving and calling out from the window. Though purported to be an illegal activity, the doorsteps to those parlors were always darkened by drunken men, waiting for a paid encounter with girls whose eyes were filled with a hollowed sadness behind a plastic smile. I wanted desperately for them to escape and become princesses in a castle, far away from the dungeon grip of the dragon’s lair.

…

The view from my window here continues to haunt me. When I think about those hotels, where husbands go to cheat on their wives, it troubles my spirit greatly. I know that right now, from where I sit, I am looking at monuments to unfaithfulness. During the day, they stand gray like a cemetery. But at night, they light up like a golden calf.

For at the window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
and I have seen among the simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man lacking sense,
passing along the street near her corner,
taking the road to her house
in the twilight, in the evening,
at the time of night and darkness.
- Proverbs 7:6-9 -

In the deepest sense, I am broken by it. We, as humans made in the image of God, have a long history of unfaithfulness. Firstly, we are unfaithful to God. We like to spit in His face, and run to the arms of false gods. Secondly, we are unfaithful to each other. Husbands forsake their marriage beds for the fleeting pleasures of brothels. Mothers forsake their children for the financial gains of the sex trade. Pastors forsake their churches for the false allures of the forbidden woman.

Proverbs 5 through 9 discuss in detail the follies of adultery and warn about the traps set by the seductress. Ezekiel 16 is an altogether tragic picture of the faithless bride, of whom it is said: “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore.” Hosea offers another graphic tale of a prophet marrying a prostitute who is repeatedly unfaithful, while crying out from the heart of God: “My people are bent on turning away from me.”

For my part, I am also convicted by it. I myself am a sinner before a holy and righteous God. Jesus set the standard high, of course, when it comes to purity. He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). By those terms, I stand guilty.

I am likewise moved to compassion by it. When Jesus was brought a woman caught in the act of adultery, He challenged the religious leaders to cast the first stone. We see in the Christ the perfect picture of covenant faithfulness. He is willing to love us, cleanse us, and even die for us. Ezekiel and Hosea describe not only the faithless bride and the adulterous prostitute, but also extol the faithful, committed, and jealous Husband. He has redeemed His unfaithful bride, the Church.

This week, I have been pondering: “What can I do to help lead people out and away from the doors of those hotels and into the doors of Evergreen Church?” Though I am still crystallizing an answer, I think it begins by also asking these questions: “What will I do if I meet those coming out of the hotel, caught in the very act of cheating? Will I throw a rock in disgust, or share about the Rock who saves us?”

When I look out my window, I am also cautious of it. I remember His admonition to the woman in John 8: “Go, and from now on sin no more.” I pray for spiritual strongholds to be cast down around those hotels. Then I ask for the protection of my own heart: “Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I want to be a man of integrity and faithfulness. So I carry in my heart the wisdom of Solomon:

The woman Folly is loud;
she is seductive and knows nothing.
She sits at the door of her house;
she takes a seat on the highest places of the town,
calling to those who pass by,
who are going straight on their way,
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
And to him who lacks sense she says,
“Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
But he does not know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
- Proverbs 9:13-18 -