Genesis 31:10 Daily Devotional & Meaning – Jacob Saw the Rams in a Dream
- Benjamin Michael Mcgreevy
- Aug 13
- 10 min read
Daily Verses Everyday! Day 189
“And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled.”
Jacob now takes Rachel and Leah deeper into the story of how God had been working: “And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled.” Jacob is explaining that his increase was not merely the result of human strategy, animal breeding, or personal cleverness. God had shown him something. At the very time when the cattle conceived, Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw in a dream that the rams were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled. In other words, God revealed to Jacob that He was the One governing the increase.
This matters because the previous verses could easily be misunderstood if they are read only on the surface. Jacob had used rods before the flocks. Laban had changed the wages. The animals had brought forth according to the kind assigned to Jacob. But now Jacob explains the deeper reality. Behind the visible events was the invisible hand of God. Behind the increase was not sorcery, magic, superstition, or manipulation. Behind the increase was divine providence. God was showing Jacob that He had seen Laban’s injustice and that He was providing for Jacob according to His own wisdom.
The phrase “I lifted up mine eyes” is beautiful. Jacob had been living under pressure. Laban’s household had become hostile. His wages had been changed. His labor had been used. His future seemed to be in the hands of a man who did not deal honestly. But Jacob lifted up his eyes. That is often where faith begins to breathe again. When we only look around, we see Laban. We see unfairness. We see changed wages. We see jealous sons. We see cold faces. But when we lift up our eyes, we begin to see that God is also present.
Psalm 121:1-2 says, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” Jacob’s help did not ultimately come from Laban’s fairness, because Laban was not fair. His help did not come from stable wages, because Laban kept changing them. His help did not come from family peace, because Laban’s household was full of tension. His help came from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, the God who rules over what men can see and what men cannot see.
This verse also teaches us that God sees what happens in hidden places. The conception of the cattle was not something Laban could fully control. Laban could make agreements. Laban could change terms. Laban could move animals. Laban could speak accusations. But he could not rule the hidden life inside the flock. God could. The same God who formed Adam from the dust and Eve from Adam’s side also governs life in the womb. The same God who opened and closed wombs throughout Genesis also ruled over the increase of Jacob’s flocks.
This is a humbling truth. Human beings often believe they are in control because they can control outward arrangements. Laban thought he could control Jacob’s future by changing his wages. But there are places only God can reach. Laban could touch the contract, but he could not command conception. Laban could change the hire, but he could not command the outcome. Laban could manipulate the visible, but God ruled the invisible.
That should comfort believers. People may have power over some circumstances in your life, but they do not have power over all things. They may control a schedule, a wage, an opportunity, a conversation, or a decision. They may try to make life difficult. But they cannot rule the hidden hand of God. They cannot stop the Lord from providing in ways they did not expect. They cannot prevent God from opening a door no one else can open. Revelation 3:7 speaks of Christ as the One “that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.” That is the Lord’s authority.
Jacob’s dream was not a random dream. It was a revelation from God that interpreted his life. Sometimes we live through events before we understand what God was doing in them. Jacob had watched the flocks increase. He had watched Laban change the wages. He had watched God provide. But through the dream, God showed him that this was not luck. This was not chance. This was not Laban losing control by accident. God Himself was involved.
This is important for devotional reflection because many believers can look back over their lives and see the same thing. At the time, it may have seemed like survival. It may have seemed like one hard day after another. It may have seemed like confusion, pressure, and uncertainty. But later, when God gives understanding, we begin to say, “The Lord was with me. The Lord was keeping me. The Lord was providing. The Lord was protecting me from what could have destroyed me.”
Genesis often shows God working before people fully understand. Joseph was sold by his brothers, taken into Egypt, falsely accused, and imprisoned. For years, it may have seemed like his life was only moving downward. But later he could say, “God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20). Jacob is learning something similar. Laban meant to control him, but God meant to provide for him. Laban meant to limit him, but God meant to increase him. Laban meant to keep him dependent, but God was preparing him to return to the land of promise.
This does not mean every dream we have is a message from God. Scripture must guard us from foolishness here. In the Bible, God sometimes used dreams to reveal His will, but we are not told to build our lives on every dream, feeling, or impression. Today, believers have the completed Scriptures, and God’s written Word is our final authority. Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” We test everything by the Word of God. We do not chase dreams as though they are equal to Scripture. But in Jacob’s case, God truly revealed something to him in a dream, and the dream agreed with God’s covenant faithfulness and His command for Jacob’s life.
This also helps us avoid misunderstanding the rods and the flocks. Jacob’s prosperity was not sorcery. He was not controlling nature by magic. He was not practicing pagan ritual. The text itself points us away from that conclusion because Jacob says God showed him what was happening. The increase came because God was judging the injustice of Laban and preserving His covenant servant. God can use ordinary means, strange circumstances, human labor, and hidden providence, but the glory belongs to Him.
There is a sermon here: do not worship the method when God is the Provider. People often become fascinated with the rods, the technique, the strategy, the outward detail. But Jacob’s testimony points beyond the method to the Lord. The cattle bore ringstraked, speckled, and grisled because God was at work. The same is true in our lives. God may use a job, a person, an opportunity, a decision, a season of suffering, or even an enemy’s schemes, but the source of blessing is God Himself.
James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” The gift may come through earthly channels, but it comes from above. Jacob’s cattle came through natural reproduction, but the increase came from God. The believer must learn to trace mercy back to its source. Do not stop at the paycheck. Do not stop at the opportunity. Do not stop at the human instrument. Lift up your eyes and see the Lord behind the provision.
For non believers, this verse invites a deeper way of seeing life. The Bible teaches that the world is not a closed system of blind chance. Life is not merely biology, economics, power, and human planning. There is a God who sees, speaks, reveals, judges, provides, and leads. Jacob’s story challenges the assumption that only visible things matter. Laban’s contracts were visible. Jacob’s flocks were visible. The animals were visible. But the most important reality was invisible: God was with Jacob.
That is still true. The deepest realities in life are not always the loudest or most visible. A person may see injustice but not yet see God’s restraint. They may see loss but not yet see God’s preparation. They may see delay but not yet see God’s timing. They may see a difficult season but not yet see the fruit God is producing through it. Faith does not deny what is visible. Faith learns to trust the God who rules beyond what is visible.
Second Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” That does not mean faith is blind. It means faith sees more than sight alone can see. Laban saw cattle. Laban’s sons saw wealth. Jacob saw the hand of God. That is the difference. Without faith, blessing becomes something to envy, control, or accuse. With faith, blessing becomes something to receive humbly and trace back to God.
This verse also points us to Christ. Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw a dream that explained how God was providing through the flock. But the whole Bible calls us to lift up our eyes higher still and see Jesus Christ, the true revelation of God. Hebrews 1:1-2 says that God spoke in many ways in times past, but “hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” Jacob received a dream. We have been given Christ. Jacob saw signs of God’s providence among the flocks. We see the fullness of God’s grace in the crucified and risen Savior.
Jesus is the One who reveals the Father. John 1:18 says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son... he hath declared him.” If we want to know what God is like, we look to Christ. In Him we see that God is holy, merciful, just, faithful, and gracious. In Him we see that God does not ignore injustice. In Him we see that God comes near to sinners. In Him we see that God provides not merely cattle, wages, or earthly increase, but salvation.
There is another connection to Christ here. Jacob saw rams in a dream connected to provision. Later in Scripture, God provided a ram for Abraham in the place of Isaac. Genesis 22:13 says Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw a ram caught in a thicket, and he offered it instead of his son. That ram pointed forward to the greater substitute, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. John 1:29 says, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Jacob needed provision for his household, but humanity needs a greater provision. We need a sacrifice for sin. We need forgiveness. We need reconciliation with God. We need more than speckled and ringstraked cattle. We need the Lamb of God. Jesus is the true provision given by the Father. He lived without sin, died in the place of sinners, and rose again in victory. Through Him, God gives not merely material blessing, but eternal life.
This keeps us from reducing the passage to prosperity. Jacob’s increase was real, and God provided it. But the greatest blessing God gives is not earthly wealth. The greatest blessing is Himself. A person can have cattle and still be lost. A person can have wages and still be dead in sin. A person can have outward success and still lack peace with God. Jesus said in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
So while we rejoice that God provided for Jacob, we must also see the greater invitation. God is not only the giver of earthly provision. He is the Savior of sinners through Christ. He does not only see Laban’s injustice. He sees our sin. He does not only rescue Jacob from manipulation. He rescues all who believe from condemnation. He does not only give Jacob flocks for a journey. He gives His people grace for eternal life.
There is also a practical lesson in this verse for those who are waiting on God. Jacob’s dream came “at the time that the cattle conceived.” That means God’s revelation was connected to God’s timing. Jacob did not control the timing of conception, and he did not control the timing of the dream. God revealed what Jacob needed to know when Jacob needed to know it. Often, we want God to explain everything at the beginning. We want the full meaning of the season before we walk through it. But God often gives understanding along the way.
Psalm 37:23 says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” Steps are not the whole staircase at once. Steps are one movement at a time. Jacob’s life has been like that. A promise at Bethel. Years of labor. Changed wages. Increasing flocks. A dream. A command to return. God has been guiding step by step. The same God still leads His people with wisdom. He may not show us every detail, but He gives enough light to obey.
This verse therefore calls us to lift up our eyes. Lift them above Laban. Lift them above the changed wages. Lift them above the fear of being trapped. Lift them above the jealousy of others. Lift them above the visible confusion. Look to the God who sees what you cannot see. Look to the God who works where you cannot work. Look to the God who provides in ways people cannot prevent.
And most of all, lift your eyes to Christ. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” He is the final place our eyes must rest. Not on the rods. Not on the rams. Not on the wages. Not on Laban. Not even on Jacob. Look to Jesus, the One who reveals God, gives Himself for sinners, and leads His people by grace.
Jacob saw in a dream that God was governing the increase of his flock. We see in the gospel that God has provided His Son for the salvation of the world. Jacob learned that Laban could not stop God’s provision. We learn through the cross and resurrection that sin, death, and Satan cannot stop God’s redemption. The God who ruled over the speckled, ringstraked, and grisled cattle is the same God who rules over all things for His glory and the good of His people.
So this verse gives us hope. God is not absent from the hidden places. God is not confused by human schemes. God is not limited by unfair systems. God is not dependent on perfect circumstances. He can speak. He can reveal. He can provide. He can preserve. He can lead. And in Jesus Christ, He has given the greatest provision of all.
If you would like to explore Genesis in a sustained, verse-by-verse way with space to reflect, journal, and trace how these foundational truths unfold through Scripture the Verse by Verse book expands these reflections into a unified reading experience. The book gathers these meditations into a structured journey through Genesis, designed to help readers linger in the text and engage God’s Word more deeply over time.
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