diff --git a/server/util.go b/server/util.go
index 3f66921d6..7118d5b8d 100644
--- a/server/util.go
+++ b/server/util.go
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ func InterceptConfigsPreRunHandler(cmd *cobra.Command) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+
 	basename := path.Base(executableName)
 
 	// Configure the viper instance
diff --git a/simapp/simd/cmd/root.go b/simapp/simd/cmd/root.go
index 2ffd39459..6fa3325c7 100644
--- a/simapp/simd/cmd/root.go
+++ b/simapp/simd/cmd/root.go
@@ -74,9 +74,12 @@ func Execute(rootCmd *cobra.Command) error {
 	// and a Tendermint RPC. This requires the use of a pointer reference when
 	// getting and setting the client.Context. Ideally, we utilize
 	// https://github.com/spf13/cobra/pull/1118.
+	srvCtx := server.NewDefaultContext()
 	ctx := context.Background()
 	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, client.ClientContextKey, &client.Context{})
-	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, server.ServerContextKey, server.NewDefaultContext())
+	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, server.ServerContextKey, srvCtx)
+
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().String("log_level", srvCtx.Config.LogLevel, "The logging level in the format of <module>:<level>,...")
 
 	executor := tmcli.PrepareBaseCmd(rootCmd, "", simapp.DefaultNodeHome)
 	return executor.ExecuteContext(ctx)