Faith is a Certainty

I can't get around this one today:

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. " [OTT - Old Troll Translation, from Memory.]

So, wait. Faith is being sure? It is a certainty of what isn't seen?

That's not how it is sold, usually. When it is sold that way, too often it comes in the form of faith's counterfeit: a transactional guarantee - sort of like the name it-claim it promises you sometimes see on the television.

By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command. By faith, Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did, and by faith he was commended as righteous when God spoke well of his offerings. By faith, Enoch was taken from this life without experiencing death. He could not be found, for God had taken him away. Before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because in order to please God, one must believe that He exists and that he rewards those who earnestly pursue Him.

Faith, in short, is more than "a belief with some doubts." It is less than "a certainty without humility." It is something else: weaker and more powerful, strange and mundane. Evidenced, unproven and sure.

God is way weirder than me.