John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:73

"Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: Give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments." — Psalms 119:73 (ASV)

Your hands have made and fashioned me. The prophet's declaration that he had been created by the hand of God greatly contributed to inspiring him with the hope of obtaining the favor he requests. Since we are God's creatures and workmanship, and since He has not only given us vital motion, in common with animals, but has also, in addition to this, given us the light of understanding and reason, this encourages us to pray that He would direct us to obey His law.

Yet the prophet does not call upon God as if God were obligated to him. Instead, knowing that God never forsakes the work He has begun, he simply asks for new grace, by which God may carry on to perfection what He has started. We need the assistance of the law, since all that is sound in our understanding is corrupted, so that we cannot perceive what is right unless we are taught from some other source.

But our blindness and stupidity are even more strikingly evident from the fact that teaching will be of no use to us until our souls are renewed by Divine grace. What I have previously said must be kept in mind: that whenever the prophet prays for understanding to be imparted to him, so that he may learn the Divine commandments, he condemns both himself and all mankind as being in a state of blindness, for which the only remedy is the illumination of the Holy Spirit.