The present participle in English is used in a number of situations. One of them is what is called "ellipsis" and consists in switching a phrase by the participle in conditional sentences of the first type (present-future combination)
For example, instead of saying:
"If I have time, I'll visit you tomorrow."
we say:
"Having time, I'll visit you tomorrow"
The same here, being a hope or not, the most common way to express that sentence (or statement as you say) is:
"God willing, I'll die young"