Ether 12:4-6

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
And it came to pass that Ether did prophesy great and marvelous things unto the people, which they did not believe, because they saw them not.
And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."
Ether 12:4-6


I remember the first time this scripture really hit me... some of you don't know me, so you should know that when I don't understand something, a lot of the time I say "I don't see it." ... so, I was thinking about one particular topic one day, and I just did not see it at all... and I read this scripture... "dispute not because ye see not" and it hit me, hard.  this was a few years ago, and I think I remember it almost every time I say that now... hopefully I say it less. :)  I included all the rest of it, because of course, it is all cool... but that it the part that always gets to me.  just because I don't see it doesn't mean it isn't true.
I like the hoping for a better world part... this world seems pretty scary at times, so many harsh things happening.  it is cool also that it says that this hope makes an anchor for our souls... if we thought that this world was it, we would have no focus, nothing to work for... but because we know that we are working for something better, then we have something to hold on to when things get bad.  instead of just trying to suck the marrow out of life, we can see that there is more to it... eternity to feast upon... we don't need to go to the woods to live deliberately... we have a reason for living deliberately right in front of us.  instead of getting away from the pain and suffering... perhaps we can do something to try and alleviate it.
Faith is always a good subject... faith has power.  People believe something, it can happen... as unlikely as it seems to our scientifically-trained perceptions.  but part of the test of this life is that God doesn't offer us "scientific" evidence for everything.  He offers us spiritual evidence, emotional evidence... all kinds of evidence that other people might scoff at, but are as real as anything else.  it's getting ourselves to be open to Spiritual evidence that takes the work.  we learn doubt and fear as we grow up, and it is hard to get past all of those barriers that we build for ourselves, and trust anything... even God, who is the only one who really deserves it.  anyway... if we need to be certain of it, God will give us that too... but not until we take the leap, take the risk... accept the vulnerability that goes with faith.  when we are able to open ourselves to God, then he can finally teach us that surety... because it doesn't bounce off our defenses.