Remember that when Peter started sinking in doubts, Jesus didn’t leave him to die in the waves.
God knows we’re nincompoops. He knows we’re going to wonder who He is. The Father knows our pea brains can’t fathom someone who is always going to be there, can’t betray or lie, and has no limitations. He knows, too, how the world can trick people into associating Him with pain. And He understands that there will be a part of you, because you have been snared by the curse, and because you simply are human and thus less than God, that will have doubts Him unit the day you die.
No one can be perfect in faith, save Jesus
Oh, I know, I know, you say. Well, what about “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)? This wasn’t a call for you to make no mistakes, which is impossible. In context, it was a reminder to try to love completely even when you get hate back, the way God does, to transcend into something with no blackness or selfishness. It’s about our heart and the way we care, not about being completely faultless.
The only one for Whom perfect faith –and thus no doubts — was possible was Jesus. The rest of us will always have this little gnaw in the center of our gut that messes with our confidence. That’s why God reassured us what we could do even when our faith is mustard-seed-sized. It’s why Jesus came in the first place. It’s why the arms that opened on the cross will never stop reaching down to where we are in the water.
Pushing back on doubts when they show up
None of this means that you shouldn’t strive to eliminate as many doubts as possible. Don’t just wallow in them. Jason Jimenez offers some terrific advice about how to fight doubts about God in his article for The Christian Post. It’s a start.
But to Jimenez’s list, I’ll add something that, perhaps left out of the article because of its obviousness, I believe is even more powerful. Just pray. Like the father who brought his sick son to Jesus for healing (Mark 9:14-29 NIV), ask God to forgive your unbelief. Ask Him to strengthen the faith you have. He will always have ears for that request.