I ran across this poem in Mark Dever’s chapter entitled “2 Corinthians: Weakness” in his book The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept. It was written by a Congregational minister named Edward Shillito during World War I.

If we have never sought, we seek Thee now;
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow;
We must have Thee, O Jesus of the Scars.

The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by Thy Scars we claim Thy grace.

If when the doors are shut, Thou drawest near,
Only reveal those hands, that side of Thine;
We know today what wounds are; have no fear;
Show us Thy Scars; we know the countersign.

The other gods were strong, but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.

Dever comments, “If you stop and think about these words, you will begin to be deprogrammed from the world’s lies and you will begin to be reeducated about what it means to be a Christian.”