Drawn not dragged, has God changed?

I heard a person on a podcast state: “The God of the Old Testament is certainly not the God of the New Testament.
They are different gods.”
Before one reaches for last days persecution signage, this is old hat.
Marcion of Sinope ( 85-160 AD) wished to offer the Holy Scriptures with references to the Old Testament effectively removed—
black highlighter, scissors, and all! The Church rejected this firmly- he was excommunicated by Rome in 160 AD.

According to the Church God the Father revealed by Christ Jesus is the same God we read of in the Book of Genesis and throuought the Old Testament.
Yet, a question remains: The Church speaks of God as impassible (not controlled or changed by passions), unchanging, simple, full, and perfect.
God lacks nothing, fears nothing, competes with no one, and is threatened by nothing.
Therefore, in God there is no anxiety, striving, insecurity, or inner division.
So, what gives? Is God the same yesterday, today, and forever—or not?

It seems to me there is an error some make when plucking difficult or horrific passages from Holy Scripture
to strengthen their position for different “gods”. So we must tread carefully.
Take, for instance, Psalm 109: “Let his children be fatherless…” and other words that might be called curses.
We must be crystal clear: these are not straightforward Divine decrees.
Often, they are the Psalmist’s cry from anguish, betrayal, rage, and injustice.
The Psalms contain inspired prayer—and inspired prayer includes ugly honesty.
God permits human speech before Him in all its brokenness.
Or consider Psalm 137: “Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock.”
Read flatly and literally, this is horrific…Yet the Church reads the Old Testament through Christ,
Who is the fulfilment and fullest revelation of God.

Many Saints refused merely literal readings of difficult passages.
Some interpreted “little ones” as infant passions or sinful thoughts
before they mature into sin to be destroyed against the Rock who is Christ.
Yet this does not erase the historical pain beneath exile and atrocity. The Psalmist speaks from devastation.
This is trauma speaking before God. Some distinction may help: Not every statement in Holy Scripture is God approving.
Sometimes Scripture records lament, rage, accusation, confusion,
despair —even distorted perception— truthfully presented as part of humanity’s encounter with God.

And, certainly there are texts that are horrific when read.
Think of the concubine in the Book of Judges: handed over, brutalized, dying.
The question rises naturally: Where was God?
Holy Scripture is startlingly honest and often shows horror without immediate explanation.
The text does not always say: “God approved.” Sometimes Holy Scripture presents a world in covenant collapse.
Indeed, the refrain near the close of Judges matters: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
The horror is not endorsement, but is indictment!

Still—even that answer can feel insufficient beside suffering.
The fuller answer is Christ.
God does not remain distant from violated bodies, abandoned people, or unjust deaths.
In Christ, God enters betrayal, stripping, violence, and abandonment: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
The Cross does not solve every intellectual problem.
But prevents us from saying God is indifferent to victims.
This matters because many apparent contradictions between
the “God of the Old Testament” and the “God of the New Testament” arise from failing to ask: Who is speaking?
Is this prescription or description? Is this lament, poetry, prophecy, judgment?
How did Christ, the Apostles, and the early Church understand the passage?
What does Christ Jesus reveal about God? Is the text exposing human sin—or revealing Divine character?
That last question changes much.

Perhaps, then, we ought to ask: When Holy Scripture records a cry of rage, are we hearing the voice of God…
or humanity speaking to God from the ashes?

Prayer: O Master Who loves humankind, illuminate our hearts with the pure Light of Your Divine knowledge and
open the eyes of our hearts and focus to understand the teachings of Your Gospel.
Instill in us also the fear of Your blessed commandments,
that we may overcome all carnal desires, entering upon the Life in Christ
and understanding and acting in all things according to Your holy will.
For You are the enlightenment of our souls and bodies, O Christ God,
and to You we give glory together with Your eternal Father
and Your all-holy, gracious and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen.