I Never Lost My Praise

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir's “I Never Lost My Praise” is a testimony of loss. The first verse is a list: “I've lost some good friends along life's way, some loved ones departed in heaven to stay,” and faith in people who “said they care” but “were never there” in a crisis. After each loss comes the same turn, “thank God I didn't lose everything.”

The second verse is more personal. The singer has let “blessings slip away” by losing focus, has lost possessions “that were so dear,” and has lost “some battles by walking in fear.” What remains is told in the repeated pivot, “one thing never wavered, one thing never changed,” which opens the chorus: “I never lost my hope, I never lost my joy, I never lost my faith, but most of all, I never lost my praise.” The choir answers with “my praise, still here,” turning a solo confession into a congregational one.

Keeping praise through loss is the stance of Job 1:21, “blessed be the name of the Lord.” The idea of praise that continues in hardship matches Hebrews 13:15 and Psalm 34:1, which promises that praise will always be on the speaker's lips.