That s right. He became like a stone, says the NIV Bible. And speaking of stones, we read that his heart fails him, he has a stroke, and ten days later this guy is stone-cold dead. And here s an observation by author Vera Sinton that goes directly to this point regarding the physical hurts caused by our grudges. If the resentment is strong enough, she writes, the inner stress may take its toll on the body.
Every doctor knows patients whose chronic conditions are made worse by unhealed resentment inside.
So initial anger may be healthy, but long- term, unhealed anger is very dangerous indeed. We suggested on Monday that an initial jolt of anger might be an appropriate thing, a necessary wake-up call when something is wrong. When a selfish deed is happening, or when injustice is before your eyes. The Bible tells us that kind of anger, the first flash of it, is not a sin. But when you hold on to it, when you nurse a grudge and let it go on for four or eight years while someone else runs the country you thought it was your divine right to lead, resentment can actually become a poison, both physically and spiritually.