“They have no wine.” I smile when I read this verse in John’s story of Jesus and his mother at a wedding. In a very motherly voice, Mary tells her son, Jesus, that the wine supply has been depleted. She does not tell him what to do; she just states the obvious—the wine is gone.

What parent among us has not made a request to our child in such a way? A mother walks into a messy bedroom and, rather than asking her child to clean up the room, declares, “This room is a mess.” A father finds the gas tank empty after his teenager borrowed the car and tells the teenager, “The tank is empty.” These declarative sentences are not meant simply to describe the situation. Rather, the parent’s tone implies the child should interpret the sentence as an imperative. Something needs to be done—and soon. The honored guests are out of wine. “Do something,” a mother tells her son.

Sometimes our lives are so mangled and confused that we do not know how to ask for help. The situation is messy, our emotions are on empty, and we can only say, “I hurt.”

Yet God hears our feeble attempts to ask for help even when all we can do is name our pain. “My marriage is falling apart; (repair it).” “My job is insecure; (provide financial support).” “My best friend is dying; (heal her).”

The intimacy of mother and son, of God and believer, allows for clarity. We do not have to make detailed requests for the God of the universe to understand our needs. The water jars become filled with good wine. God knows even when we cannot ask.