Derech: Torah study in general protects the Jewish people, but how do you know whether your individual Torah study has saved lives? As far as I know, there’s no pasuk that says, “Don’t worry about saving lives, just study Torah and that will save more lives than you ever could by trying to save lives.” In contrast, we are told “not to rely on a miracle,” that saving a life is like saving a world, and that every person should believe that the world was created for his sake.
More generally, the poor will never cease from the land (Devarim 15:11), and acts of kindness are one of the pillars of the world. So no matter how much we study Torah, there will always be poor people in need of tzedakah, and we still need to do acts of kindness because after all it’s a pillar upon which the world stands. It’s hard to give much tzedakah or help other people very much if you’ve never studied non-Torah subjects and gained practical skills and knowledge.