Longevity

Since I am now about three years and three months away from the biblical threescore and ten, longevity is a subject I have more interest in now than I did ten or twenty years ago. Also, I have been doing genealogical research on the ancestors of my wife and myself, and have been pleased to note that many of them lived long lives.

The picture that appears with this article is of Joseph and Georgianna McGregor, who were my father's maternal grandparents. He lived 73 years and she lived only 62 years because she died of accidental poisoning. They are not necessarily typical of my ancestors, however. I just happen to have a photograph of them.

As I have studied my ancestors, I have found that longevity decreases as I go back generations. Ancestors who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries lived longer than ancestors before that time. This may lead some to conclude that modern medical science has created conditions that have improved longevity. I am not certain that is the whole story, however.

One of the common reasons for short lives before the 20th century was childbirth. I have numerous ancestral families which experienced the loss of a wife and mother in childbirth. Certainly modern birthing techniques and equipment have lowered the incidence of women dying giving birth.

A common cause of early death in men was farm accidents. Farming was, and probably still is, a business fraught with dangers. Working with equipment that is designed to plow and till the earth and thrash grain can be dangerous, as can working with large animals such as horses and cattle. Accidents were a common cause of the reduction longevity in my ancestors.

But I don't think medicine alone can take the credit for increased longevity in my more recent ancestors over my more distant ones. Safety devices, changes in the way people live, and knowledge play a role, too. The important thing to remember is that our life expectancy today is normal; 200 years ago it was abnormal.

As one who believes that the Bible is God's Word, I trust its statements. In Psalm 90, which is ascribed to Moses, he writes, "All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away."

I do not believe Moses was being pessimistic when he wrote these words; he was being honest. Even though he was 120 years old at the time, he knew from observation and from revelation from God that the normal life span is 70 to 80 years. Although it had been much higher in the antediluvean era (Methuselah lived 969 years), after the flood longevity decreased over several generations to what is recorded here.

Although some periods of history have caused a great reduction in longevity, down to 40 some years at some points, no generation has managed to exceed the threescore and ten that Moses wrote about.

Sometimes we hear statements from some in the field of medical research that someday modern science will be able to break the 100 year mark in longevity. Will it happen? I don't know. I tend to doubt it, but I do not know the future.

But I do know this. My own longevity is not a matter of my health, or the health care that is available to me, or even the genes I inherited from my long-living ancestors. It is entirely in the hands of God. I have lived to the age of 66 so far because God enabled me to do so. If I reach threescore and ten, or threescore and twenty, it will be by God's grace and God's grace alone. As a child of God I am invincible until God calls me home.

This does not mean I can live recklessly or ignore my body's needs. I should take care of my body, but that is not the most important thing in my life. The most important thing is pleasing God and living for Him and trusting Him that He knows best when my time on earth has quickly passed and it is time for me to fly away.