Balaam

I am preaching through the book of Numbers and am coming to the story of Balaam. It fascinates me that Balaam was an unregenerate man, not even a Jew, and yet he was a prophet of God (if you define that phrase as someone to whom God gives special, divine revelations).  Balaam was a natural man who received and understood the things of the Spirit of God. How does his example force us to re-examine our understanding of 1st Corinthians 2:14? Lost people need God's help to understand spiritual truths of Scripture, but that's different from saying God gives them eternal life prior to faith.