Psalm 68 has two main sections. Verses 1 through 18 are the first section, and verses 19 through 35 are the second section. As we will see, each section has a center. Before we explain what is the center of the first section, let us consider once again the matter of God's move on the earth.
In the entire universe, God has only one move. The Old Testament time was actually not a time for God to move on the earth but rather a time of preparation for His move. God's activities from Genesis to Malachi were all a part of this preparation. As an illustration, we may consider the preparation that is necessary for opening a store. The store may be built and furnished and yet not be open for business. All the preparations have been made, but the owner of the store has not yet started his business. In a similar way, the Old Testament time was a time of God's preparation for opening the "business" of the divine economy.
God's economy is mainly to work Himself into His chosen and redeemed people in order to make Himself one with them and to make them one with Him. In His economy God even mingles Himself with His people to be one entity with them. Concerning this, the Bible says that we who are joined to the Lord are one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). He is the Spirit; He has made a spirit within us; and now the divine Spirit and the regenerated human spirit have been mingled together to be one spirit. How marvelous! Such a mingling did not take place in the Old Testament, for the Old Testament time was the time of God's preparation. He prepared the heavens for the earth, the earth for man, and man with a spirit for God (Zech. 12:1). In this way, man was prepared by God for the carrying out of the business of God's economy.
God took about two thousand years—the period of time from Abraham to the coming of Christ—to prepare the people of Israel. Consider all the work God did with Israel throughout the Old Testament. Beginning with Abraham in Genesis and continuing to the end of Malachi, God engaged in many activities to make everything ready for Him to carry out His economy.