What is the way for a person to be like the scholars, especially with his sorrow over his shortcomings in acts of obedience, and his failure to consider the affairs of Muslims?

A person's feeling of shortcoming in obeying his Lord and his aspiration for more good deeds is a good and desirable matter, and it is a sign of a living heart. Tribulation can be through good and evil, and Allah loves His believing servants in both states. The doors of goodness are many and not limited to seeking knowledge only. Let your concern be to please Allah Almighty in all your states, so you follow His pleasure wherever it may be, moving between the stations of servitude, from knowledge, worship, jihad, remembrance, charity, and others. This is the absolute servant whom rituals have not enslaved, and whose work is according to the will of his Lord.