Lick the dust.

Stephen Charnock on Psalm 9:20 as quoted by C.H. Spurgeon:

“’Put them in fear, O Lord,’” etc. We should otherwise think our selves gods. We are so inclined to sin that we need strong restrains, and so swelled with a natural pride against God, that we need thorns in the flesh to let out the corrupt matter. The constant hanging the rod over us makes up lick the dust, and acknowledge ourselves to be altogether at the Lord’s mercy. Though God hath pardoned us, he will make us wear the halter about our necks to humble us.—Stephen Charnock.”

(Spurgeon, C.H. The Treasury of David, Volume I, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1988, p. 108.)