When power moves swiftly—when nations strike, when borders close, when the machinery of state operates with efficiency—it is easy to mistake force for rightness. But the prophet asks a simpler question: what does the Lord require? Not victory, not dominance, not the certainty of having eliminated a threat, but justice tempered with mercy, and humility about what we truly understand. Today’s news is full of actors who believe they are solving problems, yet the problems multiply: disease spreads, families are torn apart, tensions simmer. Perhaps the question worth sitting with is not whether our actions were justified, but whether they were merciful, and whether we approached them with the humility befitting creatures who see only in part.